Samuda

General Secretary of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), Karl Samuda, has some advice for persons uninterested in making representational politics a serious career. Leave it alone.

Mr. Samuda, who was guest speaker at Thursday's graduation of the Inner-City Leadership Training Programme, said many Jamaicans get involved in politics for the wrong reasons.

"One of the problems we face in Jamaica is that we are too preoccupied with politics," he said. "We should leave it to the people who have chosen it as a serious profession. The general citizen ought not to be as involved, certainly not the youth."

He added that the preoccupation with politics has caused friction, especially among residents of urban areas.

PERSONS BEING LABELLED

"This results in persons from different communities being labelled and because of that label a barrier is put up. That has to be destroyed if the country is to move forward," Mr. Samuda said.

Sameer Younis, former president of the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce (JCC), which started the Inner-City Training Programme in 1992, said it has helped break down such barriers since its inception. This year, 52 persons started the programme which offers a certificate of achievement and a participatory certificate.

Forty-four persons, including six members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force, graduated. There were participants from Arnett Gardens, Bull Bay, Denham Town, Fletcher's Land, Tivoli Gardens and Waterhouse.

Twenty-one-year-old Sharnalee Keys, of east Kingston, who did the business management course, was a member of the graduating class at the JCC's office at East Parade. She said the programme was worth it.

"It has given me more confidence in certain areas and encouraged me to want to move further, and start my own business," she told The Gleaner.

The programme was conducted by lecturers from the University College of the Caribbean. The National Housing Trust and Digicel were the principal sponsors.