The Editor, Sir:

I would like to first congratulate The Hon. Bruce Golding on his recent appointment as the nation's eighth Prime Minister. I am anxiously waiting to see how the government will run a country that is 'all inclusive'.

As a youth, I write this letter as a charge to Mr. Golding and his Cabinet. As the tag line during the elections said 'Jamaica needs a change now' and by this win, a majority of Jamaicans asked for a change. The margin of victory, however, is a testament that all was not wrong in the country. There should be revising of old policies to see which ones need change or ones that are obsolete.

During the election campaign I did not see much emphasis being placed on the youth of this nation. This is a different time from the one when the then Jamaica Labour Party government,abandoned the youth ministry. For over four years I worked closely with the Ohene Blake-led National Centre for Youth Development (NCYD), as a member of the National Secondary Student's Council. In just that short space of time the NCYD has grown tremendously in making life for students and especially the underprivileged much better.

Statistics show that the highest rates of HIV/AIDS and crime are reported among the 16 to 25 age group. This is a cause for concern and also reason enough to develop more successful pilots like NCYD and other ways to make a better life for the youth. This move will require that we all play our part in ensuring that our nation progresses in the right direction. I implore us all to make the youth the government's top priority.

I am, etc.,

IBRAHIM A.K.K. KONTEH

kibrahim@uark.edu

Public Relations Officer

Caribbean Students

Association

University of Arkansas