The National Employment Program (NEP) will, by May 15, be employing a total of 690 individuals according to Trade and Employment Minister John Colin Mc Intyre.
“Total number of persons employed under the NEP is 550 and as I speak with you another 140 has been recommended for internships at community employment placements in May,” he told a Dominica Labour Party rally in St. Joseph on Monday. “This will take the total number to 690 by May 15 and this has nothing to do with what we refer to as ‘Jobs on Wheels’ as promised by these fellahs. It has cost the government EC$ 7-million so far.”
He said the Community Employment element under the NEP has employed 166 persons to date and will continue to implement several initiatives within various communities around the island.
They will include clean up and beautification, community tourism, expansion of the Yes We Care Program, assistants to community Pre-Schools and Resource Centers.
The areas that have so far benefitted include Portsmouth, Laplaine, Carib Territory, Trafalgar, Grand Bay, Castle Bruce Penville, Morne Prosper, Vielle Case and Wesley, according to McIntyre.
“The program will be expanded to St. Joseph, Belles, Mahaut, and other communities in this month. Eighty more people will be engaged in the coming month and as well as months to follow,” the employment minister noted.
He noted that in the communities of Mero, Wesley and Portsmouth, a Young Farmers Program has gotten off the ground and has received a supply of agricultural tools, equipment and stipends for a six-month period, as well as for investments in small farms.
100 have additionally been engaged in on-the-job training while 119 have graduated from a Hospitality, Manicure and Pedicure program.
Out of the 119, 100 have been employed in various hospitality businesses around the island and the remaining 19 are awaiting placements although some have decided to go into small business with help from the Small Business Support Unit, McIntyre stated.
54 young persons have been employed in the Education Mentorship Program so far and an additional 39 began on May 1, as primary school mentors and will aid students from grades 4-6 in the areas of English, Math, Science and special reading programs, he noted.
15 new personnel are to be assigned to a Remedial Secondary School program in selected communities.
McIntyre said as of April this year, 230 individuals have been employed under the internship program at various public and private sector institutions and this includes over 80 university graduates.
NEP was launched in December 2013. Under the program, unemployed people are placed in public and private sector firms. The government then pays the salaries of those employed.
In St Kitts, the ruling Labour party calls it “PEP” and in Dominica its “NEP” In St. Kitts this is funded from the money collected from the sale of St Kitts passports to foreigners. This is short term and an election gimmick. This is to bribe the young ones with hand outs. Once the elections are over, then PEP and NEP will be no more. It happened twice in St Kitts and it will be the same again. Our people need long term jobs. In St. Kitts over 3,000 persons are employed at a weekly salary of $304.00 weekly and its becoming a strain on the Government but they dare not stop it before election. Mark my words, once election is over, these programs will be no more.
That NEP program is a DISGRACE!!! Labour fooling our youths!! It is certainly not a sure thing.. My niece sent her application since January of 2014.. Now it’s May.. No Call.. No feedback.. Nothing. Even when she brought the application in, the person who received it told her that it is a ‘maybe’. If it’s a maybe, then don’t make it seem like it is a must!!!! My niece’s best friend has also gotten no reply since she brought in her application as well..
Dominica is truly a place for “is who that know you” or “is who you know” smh
Seems like in every Caribbean country that The Labor Party heads this program is introduced I’ve seen it in St. Kitts (PEP) and heard about it in other countries Dominica (NEP) is no exception.
The problem with this is that this program becomes burdensome on the government in particular when a country has low production outputs. People who can see this program for what it is realizes that this scheme makes no sense. Because it’s free money.
What should be asked is where is this money coming from?
I can also tell you first hand that this program is failing in St. Kitts it’s actually hanging on by a thread and the fact that PM Denzil Douglas is embroiled in corruption up to the highest peak in SK does not help the cause either.
Please see the bigger picture.
Dr.McIntyre what about Shawford residents? Aren’t our votes needed to win the elections? No transportation for our school children; No NEP jobs; No transportation to the ralley; No representation??!!! There are labourites in Shawford….Please don’t forget that you’ve got some support here..Check us!
Dr. Mc. is Palrep for the valley, could he tell us how many persons from Laudat, Morne Prosper, Cochrane, Wotton Waven etc. etc…. are part of this? I guess they are satisfied to get a $100.00 in a red T-shirt and a free ride to a labor Party Convention . But again most of the unemployed young men have gotten accustomed with their PalRep just leaving some money in the shops so they can get drunk and forget that they are unemployed.
Wasn’t it reported that the NEP was being funded by Venezuela? Dr.McIntyre is now reporting that it costs the Gov’t $7M??? What is really the truth??
LIES LIES AND MORE LIES…..I applied and I am highly qualified and I am yet to receive a job
The more you talk, the more Skerro rise… keep talking my people talk,,,,,
Parlez more power to Labour,,,talk my people talk…Si Workers tala, only the big would prosper…..sorry,
Talk my people talk…
Talk is cheap
Vince come and calculate the amount of voters to bring down to vote lord help senjoseph they were the first to start this trade in bring people to vote poorest poorest poorest in dominica
If this job is to benefit everyone in Dominica why do the employer must ask who are you supporting in politics after 14 years after they full their pockets that wat Dominicans deserve all of them ministers rich this people should be ashamed of them self I see Vince in senior he come and get the auto in senior for him to calculate the amount t of diaspora people to bring down to vote the caurse is on the senjoseph constuiency the poorest the poorest. Help them lord
Skerrit can make it sound good and look pretty as much as he wants but as far I am concerned it is corruption dressed in a nice red suit. I mean how do you take tax payers money to pay salaries of private sector employees and call it NEP? I mean imagine government paying the salaries of 2 young persons to work in the law firm of Mr. A. At the end of the day Mr. A is getting more productivity for less money and if he decides to close his office and migrate to the US, Dominica will be bade the loser. In other for me to support that NEP stuff Skerrit would have to make those employers pay a little more VAT and lower those employers that did not benefit from the NEP, just as the Obama health care.
These are artificial jobs. If their was a real market need for these positions they would have been filled naturally. Not only is this pure political engineering to make the Govt. statistics look better but also private enterprises get free labour at the treasury’s expense. Instead of of helping to grow- it drains our economy and is not sustainable.
It is so sad when instead Government create the enabling environment they increase their wage bill or recurrent expenditure. Existing Public Servants cannot even get a 1% salary increase but here they are expending 1.7 million. I just do not get it!!
What economics!!! What a foolish Government playing politics!!!
I look at this employment Program as an opportunity to showcase yourself in a place where if you had taken the initiative and apply you probably would not have gotten the job so being placed there is like a way to show and prove what u can do so its up to u to show them that you are indeed a value asset to their business *shrugs*
DNO, on the eve of the May Day DLP Rally you made the sales pitch by informing your readers that Skerrit was about to make some important announcements. However, here is what you posted as part of your sales speech: “At the event ministers will present their ministerial portfolios and reports from their respective ministries.” DNO, while I was listening to the broadcast live on kairi fm, I was also on DNO and as soon as Mr. Matthew Walter and Ian Douglas spoke, you put out their speeches. Thumbs up to you because it was important to hear what our government ministers had to say. However, you played a lot of pick-aboo with us as you skipped all other ministers and went to Skerrit. By your action, are you suggesting that the others were not news worthy since you are reporting to the world? But I was on kairi anyway. Furthermore, I am particularly disturbed and question your reason for not saying anything about what Reggie Austrie had to say. I mean Austrie holds one of the most important potfolios in the cabinet. Why not put out his message so all could see what the man had to say? Is it that you concluded that it was too degrading to get any promotion? Or, is it that you were asked to kill it by the big boys of the DLP? DNO, you told us that ministers would address us and you gave some addresses, why not Reggies? The world needs to hear how our elected leaders treat us and how rude and nasty our elected members are.
All Around Marigot smh
“Total number of persons employed under the NEP is 550 and as I speak with you another 140 has been recommended for internships at community employment placements in May,” he told a(McIntyre).
In the event Dominicans, especially the youths of the country falls for this simple ploy; we can give Pierre Charles credit for his words, “Dominicans ware their stupidity on their forehead as a badge of honor” would be justified. Every election season the government develops some sort of strategy, some sort of gimmick, or slogan as a dangling carrot to arouse the unsuspecting Rabbits, who have become over dependent on the government. Last election we heard plenty about “yes we care” I suppose it would have been too obvious if they patronized Obama, and use his quote “yes we can!”
Shortly after that we saw tons of food arriving from Venezuela, and given away to the people, hence the yes we care, slogan, and the free food secured the vote, and the Labor Party won. The food, which was the dangling carrot have all been eaten, and defecated since; the voters however, are still subjected to the misery and poverty which exists. It is important to note, there is a bunch of hungry people rioting in Venezuela, Chavez is no longer there to send food which the Venezuelans need, so they had to think of another gimmick which just happens to be internship!
This year we are hearing plenty about “internship.” What is internship; what is the definition of the word; well there is no mystery to the word, though in Dominica the labor party uses it in a way to trap the unsuspecting also: the word can be defined to mean “an advanced student, or graduate usually in a professional field such as medicine, teaching, or engineering, even someone gaining supervised practical experience as in a hospital or classroom.
Internship should mean learning a practical scientific skill, and not sitting in a rum shop pouring rum, and handing out to young and old people getting inebriated, and confused out of their mind.
In any event, government paying people to go and sit in some office building doing nothing; that constitutes fraud; a political fraud at that. The proof of this fraud will surface when election is over, when the thousand plus so called internee’s will be told they have to go home because the government money has ran out, and “we cannot afford to pay you.” By then Collin and others who are successful in the up coming election, will still continue to collect their pay cheque at the expense of the people, while the those who thought they were into something significant, and productive find themselves grabbing on to smoke carried by the wind.
How many of these so called internees are involve into a real profession which requires internship? Perhaps it is time someone ask the ministers to disclose the sort of scientific training these hundreds of interns are assigned, and for how many years or months their internship is expected to last before they graduate with their masters, or doctorate degree. Inquisitive mind like mine would like to know!
Francisco Etienne-Dods Telemaque
internee-a person who is interned, esp an enemy citizen in wartime or a terrorism suspect
When one is dead, and buried that is also interment!
Francisco Etienne-Dods Telemaque
i presume you live in a bigger and organised system than Dominica and you should be ashamed to give support to a system that employs people for about 17 months, and when its over those same people have to go back to the begging OFFICE…
blind supporters like you are those that will destroy our economy.
Forget about party and go meet the voters.
A lot of those guys need party to survive.
Some of them are from a gutter.
Party voting causing too much division in TR.
How long can the government,Afford this program. Where is the money coming from. You can’t keep spending more than you are taking in
I would like to find out from Mr. Mark Marie whether like songs, certain political statements and actions can be copyrighted. Since the appointment of Mr. lennox Linton as Political Leader of the UWP Team Dominica, whatever statements he makes or actions taken by the Party are usually stolen by the Skerrit led Administration. For instance, The Employment Forum, UWP Ca Twavay, Together We Must…. Change is Coming, putting Major Information Online. I would not be surprised in time to come, they will have a twenty one in twenty one, too.
What about plans for the development of Roseau into a Green City.., As soon as UWP say the Skerrit start echoing the same plans… For 14 years they neglected Roseau…Monkey see…Monkey do..
But you guys are crazy, here is another classic case of the misuse of the states resources for electoral positioning. This is nothing more than pure politics and it shows that this government has absolutely no idea on how to think creatively, Stratigise effectively and implement anything for the country.
Why didnt those clowns put the money into agriculture where by in the next few months you would have generated sustainable jobs, and production that you can export to earn foreign currency. Why is it that the people in the labour party can never think creatively and strategically.
How can you all pay persons to go sit in private businesses for a whole day and most of the times they have nothing to do. There is no demand and no matter how you twist this this is not a strategic use of states resources.
I don’t believe NEP is a good thing, it is costing the government alot “7 million so far ” and there is no income generated by the government in return. The way I see it it is an election strategy.
but trust me Parry Bellot will by the end of the year come to report how productive the scheme has been. wait and we. I bet the self proclaimed productivity consultant will be at his best / he may well make the claim through his imaginery indicators the once unproductive sectors (including the public services) of the economy is now very productive thanks to the NEP – WAIT AND WATCH PEOPLE.
Imagine instead Government create the enabling environment for business development, they paying people to work at DOMLEC, AID BANK, LIME M&R ETC. This is madness….it needs to be the other way round. In the meantime public officers cannot get an increase nor other financial benefits. Pure crazy.
The first lesson of economics is that there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Hiring people to do things that the labour market isn’t demanding may look like progress, but it’s unsustainable and ultimately counter-productive.
I’m not even blaming the politicians here. They end up under pressure to “do something” because too many people honestly believe that government can provide something for nothing. But it can’t — you may not see where the loss is happening, but paying Paul inevitably means robbing Peter.
First lesson in economics?which first lesson from who and which country or state?most of the world best economist has come from the best universities yet they are unable to bring any real answers to a world growing crisis or to any of the world super power leading countries as a solution.A real solution to solve unemployment,poverty,hunger,and illness,which is ravishing the world. they have millions,billions, to deal with yet still no real solution.Dominica has just over 100.00 so please Mr Steve Foerster wake up and live. I as a Dominican living abroad can say that 690 created job it a great start for more created Peter for Paul to steal from, because if he steals and play robin hood then maybe there will be 100 or even 50 ambitious Peter who will create a small may even grow into big enterprise and bring more Peter for Paul to steal From and so there are some chain reaction happening.I am not for labor or its opposition.They are all the same in politics! striving for power but I see a positive 690 working people of Dominican if proven true!!
Excellent I agree I to will not be blaming the politicians rather is those coward and unprofessional, unprincipled, mortage saving managers and PS’s in the Public Service that allows the politicians to carry out those inefficient and non-sustainable and unsustainable acts knowing fully well they lack solid fiscal and economic prudence. AH MAWAY SA!
Very sad,when will the people of st joseph be top of the list,nothing was said about st.joseph for development on monday,you fellas of this degrading labour party have me SMH.
This NEP is a short term half/half strategy that does not make provision for a long term solution to unemployment. The government has spent so much money yet it’s merely internship initiatives. Dr. Mc Intyre is a better veterinarian than an employer…
My friends, as a fellow villager and voter of Skerrit’s home village, it is a fact that Skerrit has given several persons from the constituency, large sums of money for free. So, he using the NEP is nothing strange. If the man can give people free money why should he not use the NEP to keep his supporters busy? It is just pure corruption clothed in a title.
I am a Dominican living abroad!! I have been following a lot on the political articles published here on Dominica news online.Seen lot of the most negative and very few positive comment about the Dominica labor party.In this present article I see that there are positive actions being taken on Employments for the people of Dominica,If this is proven to be true then it is very good. which mean there is progress positive progress and efforts from this existing Government.Thank you Dominica News online for the articles which give us Dominicans leaving abroad the opportunity to get inside info on what going on the Beautiful island of Dominica!!
Sorry my friend, but i see nothing positive in this.
This positive action you see is nothing but a knee jerk reaction to a vibrant opposition, who are at last striking a chord with the general public.
Well here comes the politicians comments!!you don’t have to convince me!I am not interested in the political debate as to who will run the beautiful island of Dominica but rather what program they have who ever they may be to better the situation for the well being of the island and its population.I would gladly support any party who would bring any ideas which would better the lives of Dominicans rather than comments which is supported with no ideas.to my opinion 690 created employments still stands as positive!!
140 more labourites to benifit from the NEP!!!!!!! Ask them how much uwp people that benifite from the program.
What all you want his thing for, you guys hate him so much. No way! We will check our people first and IF it have space we will squeeze all you in….
I realize the DLP has recruited quite a few election employees to monitor DNO, to give thumbs up to fellow DLP supporters and thumbs down to honest and concerned Dominicans. Are they getting paid from the NEP program?
But Skerrit, that is NOT job creation. Job creation is empowering the private sector to either expand their business or start a new business that will employ 10, 15, 25 persons like Courts Dominica did in the late 90’s-2000, when they had branches in Marigot and the East coast.
…”It has cost the government EC$ 7-million so far.”
SO…. whats the ROI (Return on Investment) on that 7 million? Also, what plans are in place to maintain the NEP in the long run, I mean in the near future when the loan money runs out…
I believe the NEP program is a great thing it assist those who are unable to find jobs and helps keep numerous of people off the streets
So how long do you think they can keep this up for, till the next election.
Ya right…who all you fooling? The only people being employed is those who all you think will vote for the government..any person who does not support the nastiness the government does their so called registration is placed in the bottom of the pile or is said to be infront of the “board”. I know because I am one such person minister Ambrose george asked to go and register yet i can’t be employed….However my mammy always said “you catch flies with sugar not Lime”….. your victimization days are numbered and that of your children will come to past… Karma is a >>>>>
Uwp hater?
If you were a serious opposition the country will be better off.