Minister Musa Responds to Criticisms Against Effectiveness of LIU

Minister Musa also gave a response to the opposition’s criticism of the Leadership Intervention Unit under his leadership. Here is what the Minister of Home Affairs had to say about the effectiveness of the unit.

Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs

Kareem Musa

“In any program that you implement there will be a percentage, and we have to accept that. These are human beings that we’re dealing with. And it’s not just regular human beings. It’s at risk youth. We’re targeting approximately one thousand at risk youth. Not because the PUP came in, one thousand at risk youth who are part of our program are going to switch and say, I am no longer going to listen to the negative influences in my life, I’m going to lead a positive life. You will have a small, small percentage of ten to twenty percent that will not want to change. The point is we gave each and every one the opportunity. And so whenever it is that they manifest themselves, then it is that they come out of the program. And so, it’s not just public sector, it happens in the private sector. Call center agents, bankers, you go to any place, media houses, there are individuals that work at these institutions that are committing criminal offenses. And what happens when that happens? You take them out of the organization, and they go to prison. And so, I don’t know what the expectation was. We cannot be naive to think that This was going to somehow solve all the problems of the world. I don’t know how it is, because I heard this part, where he compared the strategies that the LIU is implementing to what the UDP did, which was purely paying gang members. That’s not what the LIU is about. That was a very temporary thing and that blew up in their faces because if you check your records in 2012, that year resulted in one hundred and forty-eight murders. I think that’s the record, and that is the year that they were paying gang members, you know. And so that’s not what we’re doing. This is a comprehensive approach, that this is a deep dive that not only provides them with skills training, it provides them with counseling, it provides free education on the south side of Belize City. Where was that in their plan? None of these things were in their plan.”