PM Browne Highlights Efforts to Reform Deviant Youth Through Engagement and Support
Prime Minister Gaston Browne has said that more must be done to support young people who are at risk of falling into criminality, revealing that he has personally intervened to help reform deviant youth, including rival gang members.
Speaking on his Browne and Browne programme on Pointe FM, Browne said he had observed that many of these young men had been abandoned by key institutions.
“I thought that they were abandoned and nobody wanted to touch them,” he said. “Within our school system they literally expel them, and I’ve always said that I think sometimes our schools are too quick to expel or in the first instance condemn these deviant students.”
He said the lack of support at home, in schools, and from religious institutions contributed to their vulnerability.
“They weren’t getting the support at home, not getting support at school, and evidently they don’t go to church,” he said. “So I think many of them found themselves in this situation.”
Browne said his decision to engage with rival gang members came from a place of care, not for recognition.
“It’s not that I was looking for any fame. Again, it’s just out of care,” he said.
The Prime Minister added that his administration is taking a more holistic approach to governance by going beyond economic concerns and focusing on social development.
“We have to go beyond the traditional aspects of governing. Before, the focus was almost exclusively on the economic aspects — providing a job, helping people to earn enough money,” he said. “I think we have to look at the governance of the country in a more holistic way.”
He pointed to the government’s Second Chance programme as an example of efforts to re-engage youth who may have dropped out of the traditional education system.
“One of the reasons why we started a Second Chance programme was precisely to try and capture them in their adult years and to help them to matriculate so they can then go to university and qualify,” he said.
Browne said that while poverty is often cited as a reason for youth crime, it is not the sole factor.
“It doesn’t stop you from instilling sound values in your children,” he said. “I think part of it too has to do with our culture of having all these single-parent homes… and many of the fathers, they just do not pull their weight.”
He also called on churches and spiritual leaders to be more proactive in reaching troubled youth.
“Our spiritual leaders have to reach out and probably take their message into the communities rather than sitting down in the church on a Sunday or standing up in the pulpit and hope that people come,” he said.
The Prime Minister’s remarks followed comments from his radio co-host highlighting his role in brokering peace between rival gangs.
Browne acknowledged the observation but stressed the importance of systemic reforms in education, community outreach, and family support to address youth delinquency in the long term.
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True True. I agree with you 100%. Kudos to you P.M on this one.
My rare agreement with P.M
Agree with what you say but the the people in High office also failed them too, with the skullduggery, nepotism, and barefaced corrupt practices that should be included
Abandoned?
By whom?
Why was the UPP voted out of iffice?
You campaigned that they were not doing a good job..
You got the job.
What have you done since?
Who do you expect to do your job?
How long had you been in office before realizing that they were abandoned?
Who referred to them as zombies and turned around and decriminalized Marijuana just for a vote thereby creating more zombies?
If you feel they were abandoned look in the mirror and you will se who abandoned them while your son turned overnight millionaire.
Don’t forget that it is the very son who had to apply to Board of Education for a scholarship to go and study.
Minutes after his study he became a millionaire and was able to buy government’s land to flip.
He was able to buy porche apartment in the US .
Where did the money frome from while the other youths were abandoned?
Gaston: I gotta sound like I am their hero because election pending to give me the moral mandate to go through this term and control the police to tear gas the people and control power.
They need to look in the father’s who have children and not looking after them there name is in court and no one is doing nothing about it
The new word for Gatson is “Abandon”.
You just have to laugh 😂.
Yes Gatson, everything is Abandoned under your 11 year reign as PM. That’s right, St Johns has been abandon, the roads have been abandon, the water have been abandoned, the schools have been abandoned, the hospital has been abandoned.
So yes Gatson, you should be abandoned as well.
You are no damn hero Browne Bwoi . Everything fell to shyts under your governance, and now you have the audacity to talk about ” abandon”.
This man really needs to go for real.
This man talk like he just got into office or crying to get the job.
Well guess what Gatson, you got the job, and have been in it for the past 11 years, and the best you can come up with in your defense, is that everything was ” abandoned” including these kids that walk on the very streets you “abandoned”?
😂. This man just talk and don’t even know what the hell he’s talking about.
Selective memory at best.
You are no leader Gatson, and you’re certainly no hero!
Politicians their lies and the church and their lies prepared the fertile grounds for these street level criminals to thrive in.
Gaston = Red Shut.
Baldwin = Green House Possee.
Wilmouth = Spanish coke whores
Lester = the coke crew.
Rasta = religious slaves
Cutie = white shut!
Asot = antiman brigade
Police = gunman
Army = dope man.
Banks = embezzlers
Megoman = gun runner crew
Gangs mek Antigua.
Dem a wha you call gangsta loool where were you in the 90s when antigua was cut into 4.
I think he did a good job with the gangs. Antigua does not usually have so many young people involved in such so clearly there were specific social problems that need to be addressed. I agree with most of what was written except troublemakers should be expelled from regular schools to avoid disruptions to other students’ learning, but then perhaps they should be put into a different kind of school, like a boot camp programme with more discipline and more focus on practical skills, not just left to roam the streets.