CAMBRIDGE, St James

Outgoing parliamentarian Derrick Kellier has made it clear that the Community Training for Empowerment Programme (CTEP), which he conceptualised some 15 years ago, will not end when he throws in the towel.

CTEP, in partnership with HEART Trust/NTA, is a training programme which provides certification for unskilled St James Southern constituents.

Under the programme, a portion of Kellier’s Constituency Development Fund (CDF) is used to pay half the cost of the classes which run for six months at the Cambridge Community Centre, Anchovy High School and Mocho Community Centre— while the students are required to pay the remainder.

Over the years, scores of CTEP graduates have found employment at hotels, both locally and internationally.

“It (CTEP), an offshoot of the South St James Social and Economic Development Trust, is here to stay.

And regardless of what happens in the future, the programme is anchored in the Trust and as such no one or nobody can stop the programme from growing,” declared Kellier, who has been the MP for St James Southern since 1989, during a recent CTEP graduation held in Cambridge.

“There are a lot of people who throw cold water on it and say this thing not going anywhere and the negativity, but 15 years later we are here stronger than ever as tribute to the resilience of your human resource director, Claudette Glegg and her team and the steady support from HEART Trust/NTA. The partnership has grown from strength to strength.”

The programme offers training in beauty care, housekeeping, bartending, cake baking, agriculture, security operations and electrical installation, among other disciplines.

Kellier bemoaned that there are still many persons who are not aware of CTEP and charged the over 60 members of the recent graduating cohort to advertise the programme.

“Your duty as ambassadors is to spread the word, tell the good news. Just like when Christmas came and we spread the good news of Jesus Christ, spread the good news of this programme,” he charged.

Dr Walton Small, who was selected by the People’s National Party to represent the party in constituency in the next general election, announced that it he is successful at polls he will rename CTEP in Kellier’s honour.

“I want to say congratulation to the Honourable Derrick Kellier for instituting this programme. I really want to congratulate the MP and when I become the MP I will make sure that this programme is named after him. This is a serious legacy, absolutely a serious legacy,” Dr Small said.

Kellier has indicated that he will not contest the next general election, due to ill-health.

The Jamaica Labour Party’s caretaker for the constituency is Councillor Homer Davis, who is also the mayor of Montego Bay.