Boy Scouts march on Ruth Avenue in San Fernando yesterday. Photo: RADHICA SOOKRAJ

Former independent senator, Rev Daniel Teelucksingh, says youths of T&T are in crisis because of the presence of more than 80 criminal gangs which are perpetuating youth delinquency and crime. Speaking during the Scouts Association Founders Day celebrations at Susamachar Presbyterian Church in San Fernando yesterday, Teelucksingh encouraged the scouts and girl guides to motivate their peers into staying away from gangs. He said while some segments of youths were becoming pro-active through the scouting movement, others were engaging in nefarious behaviour through gang membership.

“We must remember always that our youth is in crisis in T&T. I want you to understand there are gangs in certain communities. It is estimated there are more than 80 youth gangs; some of them are on drugs. They handle guns; they are guilty of murdering people in villages. They are young people who need your help.” Teelucksingh said the competition and rivalry among gangs ended in the destruction of precious young lives. The Presbyterian minister urged young people to know their boundaries by exploring their talents and abilities.

Once this was done, Teelucksingh said youths must show concern for each other and must stop blaming society and their parents for their failures.
He said too many youths were becoming members of nefarious gangs, which were responsible for the upsurge in crime. “There is, therefore, an urgent need to save our young people from these gangs. Just as we organise ourselves into patrols with the boy scouts, the girl guides, the brownies, so, too, these gangs are organising themselves.”

He said the scouting movement needed to throw a lifeline to the young people involved in gangs. “Where we stand, those boundaries are dangerous boundaries, but they are boundaries that we cannot ignore. “We want to tell all young people and scouting movement in San Fernando and Cedros that they need to throw a lifeline to all the youths in this nation. “The teens need to be rescued. The rescuing movement must be the scout movement,” Teelucksingh said.