‘Comprehensive’ training programme for truck drivers coming – Labour Minister 

In his maiden address to the National Assembly, Minister of Labour and Manpower Planning Keoma Griffith announced that a comprehensive training programme for truck drivers will be implemented soon.

According to Griffith, who spoke during the Budget Debate, this training programme will be implemented through the Board of Industrial Training (BIT). It will complement the work already executed by the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Public Service, Government Efficiency and Implementation.

This announcement comes amid heightened public discourse on trucks on Guyana’s roadways. There have been complaints of truck drivers speeding and endangering others, and the government has said it will introduce speed-limiting devices for trucks. In other instances, concerns have been raised as several serious and fatal accidents have involved trucks. The most recent fatal accident, which occurred on the Bharrat Jagdeo Demerara River Bridge, involved a young unlicensed driver.

Fatal bridge accident: Unlicensed driver remanded to prison; truck owner gets $50,000 bail

Meanwhile, Griffith also highlighted several other initiatives that will be rolled out to bolster Guyana’s workforce.

He said a national manpower agency will soon be established. That body will include provisions for a labour market observatory, and generate labour market information and statistics in relation to labour demand and skills gaps.

Moreover, Griffith announced that the government will up efforts to rehabilitate prisoners. A new prisoners’ capacity development programme will help train and rehabilitate inmates while allowing them to earn and support their families while serving their sentence.