No Christmas Bush cutting for 2015
While it is a short term system to put money in the hands of young people, in 2011 after the National Democratic Party (NDP) came to power they continued the tradition up until before the June 2015 general elections.
This Christmas, however, there will be no bush cutting as this was confirmed by Public Works Department officials. The main reason is “there is no money.” Already, many in the media, the Opposition, and civil society continue to ask, if the NDP left the country broke in their quest to win the 2015 elections.
Discouraging youth away from Bush Cutting?
Controversial Minister for Education and Culture Hon Myron V. Walwyn, who attempted to control the bush cutting exercises through his Ministry, previously pleaded in 2014 with young men to desist from depending on petty contracts from Government.
According to many of the young people, about a year after the 2011 elections that saw the NDP taking control of the government they had to visit the Ministry of Education to collect their cheques after the bush cutting work.
It remains unclear if this practice was discontinued.
Last year December 2014, Hon Alvera Maduro-Caines (R6) said that “while the bush cutting system that we have may be appealing for a short time, I am encouraging our young men to not just relax and depend on this….”
Purpose of programme
The bush cutting exercises stated by the VIP was to help the young people out of school during the summers and Christmas, along with some older retired adults who had worked for the PWD in each of the nine districts, to have some spending money in their pockets to help them during those high activity seasons.
The programme was controlled by each of the district representatives from both sides of the isle whereby they had to submit names from their districts to the Minister for Communications and Works or the PWD for persons to do the bush cutting.
It appears that the ruling NDP was a critic of the programme and was finding ways to kill it, according to a young man sitting at Lindon Bar in Baughers Bay on the main island of Tortola. Another young man sitting on his scooter at the same bar said “see they used us and now we are hungry if elections were coming up they would have find money to give we a little eat but there is another election yall.”
Efforts to get a comment from the Works Minister, Hon Mark H. Vanterpool (R4), were not successful.
.png)
Follow Us On
46 Responses to “No Christmas Bush cutting for 2015”
Now that the bush cutting contracts are not giving out like before, it is now a problem!
Jack I tell yo!