REFORM OF THE PEACE PROGRAMME WILL BRING ABOUT REAL, LIFE-CHANGING SKILLS AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR AT-RISK YOUTHS IN ST. KITTS AND NEVIS

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, June 13, 2023 (SKNIS) – The Honourable Dr. Terrance Drew-led administration remains committed to the reformation of the Alternative Pathways Lifestyle Programme (APLP), commonly referred to as the “Peace Programme”, with rehabilitation at the center.

Speaking today, Tuesday, June 13, 2023, during a special interview with media representatives, Prime Minister Honourable Dr. Terrance Drew said there was a need to bring about urgent changes to this programme, as the evidence has shown significant mismanagement under the former administration.

“The Development Bank was used as a conduit to funnel tens of millions of dollars in a corrupt way using the name of this programme. There’s no doubt about that. We have done the forensic studies on it. That we have stopped. And so, you saw a particular budget out there and then after that there was this underground, dark budget which was really racketeering in the worst of ways,” Dr. Drew exclaimed.

Prime Minister Dr. Drew said what he also found troubling is that because of the way the programme was previously managed, school children are now aspiring to be placed on the Peace Programme after completing school for the sake of just collecting a paycheck.

He said, “If you listened to the police press conference and the police some weeks ago on Freedom FM when one of the police officers would have mentioned that there were young people – children in primary school – aspiring to be part of the peace programme. And so, we have children out there aspiring not to become whatever they wanted to become other than just put me on this programme, and it cannot be like that. We cannot accept that and that is why we stopped the racketeering.”

The Prime Minister said the reformed version of the programme is expected to be launched in July of this year with a deep focus on transparency and rehabilitation.

“We are going to make it transparent in terms of what people get from being on the programme and we are also going to sign up persons who work with Social Security so that they can have something for later years. It’s going to be open and transparent and through a proper system of how people are compensated,” said Prime Minister Dr. Drew.

Dr. Drew continued, “What we want to do is to give people opportunities on the new programme so that they can make options for their lives just like any other citizen, and that is what we are creating at this particular juncture.”

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