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| Minister of Family, Culture, Sports and Youth, Stephen Lashley, shares a light moment with two fo the delegates at the religious summit. (A. Gaskin/BGIS)?? |
This island’s Minister of Family, Culture, Sports and Youth, Stephen Lashley, has defended the National Summer Camp Programme, saying it is not a waste of tax payers’ money.
While addressing the opening of the Religious Summit today at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, Mr. Lashley pointed out that government was continuing to fully finance the programme even in these very difficult financial times. "Over the past three years approximately 25,000 young people were provided with essential life-skills.
"There are some persons in our country who would wish you to believe that such programmes are a waste of tax payers’ money. It is very ironic that we are being accused of not doing anything to assist our youth, yet on the other hand, there is enormous pressure for us to abandon such initiatives," he stated.
The Minister expressed the view that it would be a retrograde step if, "as a caring administration, we give in to the pressures of those with a different agenda".