Dionne Rose, Staff Reporter
MEMBERS OF Parliament were sharply criticised by Labour and Social Security Minister, Horace Dalley, for the poorly qualified cadre of persons who were recommended for the Ministry's Overseas Employment Programme last year.
The minister, who was making his contribution to the 2005/06 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives Tuesday, urged his colleagues to pay close attention to the persons they were recommending.
"You have to know them. You can't recommend someone who was convicted for murder, you can't recommend someone who was deported last year from the United States for immigration reasons," he said.
The minister described some of the selections last year as abysmal, and charged MPs not to leave the selections up to area leaders.
"If you recommend someone who cannot read or write, they will not be accepted. Forty years ago you could take someone who couldn't read and write. The whole operation in the United States has changed dramatically and the employers are now demanding workers who are numerate and literate."
