Junior shadow ministers say local government platform will enhance their advocacy
TWO KEY members of the People’s National Party (PNP) junior Shadow Cabinet based in its Region Six structure, with portfolio responsibilities for youth development, labour and social security, say they now have an elevated platform to enhance their advocacy for, and on behalf of, the people of Jamaica.
That’s because they were both declared and sworn in as councillors in the Westmoreland Municipal Corporation following the February 26 local government elections.
“Having been elected as a councillor, it sets the platform for other young people to know that the avenue exists for them to be an elected representative serving their country,” said Lidden Lewis, councillor for the Frome division.
“It is rare to find young people engaging in politics these days. Most are confined in their own business, not necessarily focusing on the country’s needs,” the PNP’s junior shadow spokesman on youth development explained in a Gleaner interview.
Lewis is an educator who lectured at the Montego Bay Community College’s Frome campus who has had a long history of serving people through education and is passionate about youth development. He said he is committed to improving the level of youth participation in the electoral process of the country.
“As a part of my portfolio, I am going to be encouraging young people to engage i n politics, because their ideas and innovativeness are needed so we can advance this country in the best way possible,” said the educator who is now studying law at The University of the West Indies.
MENTORSHIP FOR YOUTH
Lewis’s portfolio responsibility entails providing mentorship for the country’s youth that will help them to develop and embrace progress and prosperity.
“It also involves me putting in place programmes and policies that would encourage the development of youth, education, and skills to help them succeed in their academics and career choices,” the PNP’s junior shadow spokesman said.
Further, he argued the youth are no longer being guided on the right path in relation to what it means to be involved in national activities and events, such as going to the polls and voting.
“I think we have lost the appreciation for universal adult suffrage, and that is something we need to [promote] to make them more appreciative, or, through mentorship and educational programmes that will guide them as to why we must elect representatives,” Lewis opined.
Amorkard Brown, the councillor of the Leamington division and junior shadow spokesman for labour and social security, expressed similar sentiments on his elevation to the platform of the country’s local government system.
Brown is also a master teacher, having spent more than 12 years executing his skills in the sciences at Munro College in St Elizabeth. He said he would normally speak of his portfolio responsibilities via press releases, but an elected councillor provides a direct audience to advance his duties on bringing social welfare to the vulnerable people across the country.
“A seat in the Westmoreland Municipal Corporation is a great place to ensure that people are being treated fairly at their workplace, and that those in need of social care and welfare have seamless access to those services,” said Brown.
The educator, who is a former recipient of the Prime Minister’s National Youth Award for Excellence, said there are several people across the island, including in his Leamington division of Eastern Westmoreland, who require those basic services, and that he would be using his training and his office as councillor and spokesman to bring those services to them, noting that there are far too many Jamaicans who require protection under the labour law and who need to access social welfare via the Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education, and pension system, among other services.