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PM Bristles; Says Government Didn't Pay Gangs
posted (September 18, 2014)
And in one last news item from the press conference, we'll show you how the PM bristled at the suggestion that his government paid gangs to keep the peace.

It is one of the most unpopular initiatives ever undertaken by his government - but to hear the PM tell it, it never happened - he says people are confusing issues with a work programme:..

Reporter
"Is the state still paying gang members and....."

Prime Minister Dean Barrow
"What kind of question is that "do you still beat your wife?" It's of that nature that you can't answer because what will you say? We were never paying gang members. When did that happen?"

Reporter
"In the streets they were saying they were and actual gang members."

Prime Minister Dean Barrow
"People we had a work program at one time that you all know about. It worked for a while and thereafter it didn't work. There was never any payment to gang members to say hold it down. We try to create employment opportunities, now we are doing so on a far more sustainable basis because we got more monies and thank God we are doing it by way of the private sector, but there was never any payment to gang members in the context that your question seems to be placed."

As we recall it, the programme was designed to offer employment to gang members to conduct works in their neighborhoods. It was supervised by the Ministry of Works, with the gang leaders as on the ground overseers. The supervision from the ministry was very little and so was the work done.

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