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Jules Vasquez Reporting
One month ago a pair of well equipped heavily armed gunmen used the cover of night and the dense bushes across from the mile three checkpoint booth to launch an attack on the police and BDF assigned to this area. Those men were never caught, but the bushes which gave them the opportunity to ambush are being cut today. The 15 young men doing the work are part of a programme spearheaded - which is to say funded - by the Crime Control Council and the city council

Phillip Willoughby - Deputy Mayor
"It is with the intent of the Chairman of the Crime Control Council that these young men become gainfully employed and to present themselves to the community at large, the city at large to the nation if we are given the opportunity to work, we can work. "

And they are working - in brutal sun hot chopping the scraggly edge of this rundown mangrove forest

Arden Robinson "Chat Bout", Worker - Member Crimes Control Council
"All the ghetto youth right now that is here have no complaint for doing a hard job like this."

Jules Vasquez
"Really? I mean it is hot."

Arden Robinson
"Man, I could feel that and you can feel that Mr. Jules. But like I said hearts and minds everybody want to eat right now, nobody want to idle themselves right now in this world."

Jules Vasquez
"So even with all this excessively hard work, do you have a lot of men who are lining up to get employed"?

Arden Robinson
"Yes mon. I will be frank with you, since we hired some men and we could not hire all, some of them wanted to harass the Councilor, we had limited spaces available. They even talk about shot the Councillor. But as things progress ahead we can hire them because they really want to work.

Well this particular project is a project that will benefit our ghetto people from commit crime and violence because really enough men are out here without work. The money we are paying is a blessed salary."

Jules Vasquez
"Are you getting a stipend?"

Arden Robinson
"$225 is love for the week. Who can go wrong with $225 a week? You get a little rest, you get water, you are free up instead of standing on a street corner not doing anything."

So the money is right, but today they were out of their area. Their work is in the Albert - that's where most of these young men come from:

Phillip Willoughby
"They have cleaned specifically centralized within the Albert's constituency where they reside. They are cleaning lots in there. We have identified about 75 lots that they will clean and have prepared so that in the event of maybe a disaster it's a good aspect at looking at how we mitigate, looking at the crime situation where young men from these gangs would hide stuff like drugs, we are working within that aspect. we have done about 10 lots and we intend to finish that within a reasonable time."

Jules Vasquez
"What is a reasonable time?"

Phillip Willoughby
"These young men get up every morning at 7 am go to the designated lots and clean them."

Jules Vasquez
"Can you specify the time frame they are going to finish the 75 lots?"

Phillip Willoughby
"There is a lot of number of contingencies that may arise, the weather might not permit us, these guys may get ill but what I am telling you at the end of the day the 75 lots that has been identified will be cleaned."

Jules Vasquez
"You seem to be edging unto the political turf of the incumbent Mark Espat."

Phillip Willoughby "Well if you see it that way and God willing and everything works out fine. I would like to give Mark a run if so be it. Who wouldn't? I like a good challenge."

Jules Vasquez
"However it brings us back to the issue of stick-to-it-tiveness because you said the same thing about Freetown and then you fell off the back of the pack."

Phillip Willoughby
"I still would be ambitious to say if an opportunity would arise I would take advantage of it."

Jules Vasquez
"However, you realize that in Albert, this is the area that the PUP, in its greatest defeat ever, this is the area they won by the largest margin, still comfortably over 60 percent."

Phillip Willoughby
"And I am still no ordinary councilor."

And in that same idyllic way, Deputy Mayor Willoughby says this work is actually job training.

Phillip Willoughby
"After this project comes to an end after the 75 lots have been cleaned in Albert's constituency hopefully they have garnered the support to say I have attained this skill and you can employ me if you need me to clean your yard." The cleanup plan will cover 75 abandoned properties in Albert and then move unto other divisions. The ten thousand dollar investment in equipment will be handed over to the workers at the end of the programme.

The cleanup plan will cover 75 abandoned properties in Albert and then move unto other divisions. The ten thousand dollar investment in equipment will be handed over to the workers at the end of the programme.