The Leader of SVG Green Party, Warrant Officer Ivan Bertie O’Neal BSc (Hons), MSc, MBA, strongly contends that high skills training is urgently needed to move SVG into prosperity.
The strong emphasis on offering subordinate, low-paid employment in the tourism sector – such as cooking the food, serving the food and making up the beds – is out of date. It has no long term future for our country and is unacceptable.
We must take a look at countries that are doing extremely well, such as Singapore, with very high quality education and technical skills training. Businesses in the high tech industry are willing to relocate to Singapore as employees in Singapore take a very short period to train and be fully employed. In SVG, there is far too much focus on tourism. The days of Sun and Sand and Sea are dead.
Visionary SVG Green Party Leader, Mr Ivan O’Neal, believes that SVG must urgently become part of the green world, and start up a green jobs training programme, as this would give Vincentians the skills needed to get highly paid jobs in green industries in SVG and abroad. A green jobs training programme would empower our people, and give them valuable skills and a lifetime ability to earn money.
There are many jobs worldwide in the Green industry, yet the ULP regime lacks the vision to train our people to do these jobs. A Green government will set up a green jobs training programme to give our people the skills and an internationally recognised qualification, so they can work in the solar, wind, hydro and other green industries.
With the skills learned and qualifications gained, people will be able to get work in SVG and all over the world. Many green jobs abroad have salaries in excess of EC$80,000 a year.
For example, completing a solar PV (photovoltaic) training course would enable a person to become a solar panel installer and enter an exciting, growing market. The training programme would teach the skills needed to install solar PV panels, and also the skills to install domestic electrics, meaning the person would have two ways to generate an income, by doing PV or electrical installation jobs.
With a green jobs training programme, people would be able to set up their own business and earn money independently. There is a huge potential for green jobs in SVG, but the incompetent ULP regime seems happy to let our people suffer in poverty and unemployment. A Green government would create hundreds of new green jobs to reduce poverty and improve the quality of life of Vincentians.
There is money to be made in green industries; there are jobs available in green industries. Vincentian people need to be trained so that they can get these green jobs and get a share of the billions of dollars being made in green industries.
Investment in engineering and skills training will bring a much higher yield and rate of return on capital invested than anything we will ever see in tourism in SVG. The focus on tourism in SVG is killing our economy and perpetuates generational poverty. A focus on engineering in SVG will bring prosperity to the people.
According to Warrant Officer Ivan O’Neal, BSc (Hons) MSc, MBA, since Independence in October 1979, our so-called leaders have done absolutely nothing to drive industrialisation to boost employment and the economy.