London Riots: Paul Boateng Blames Leadership For Crisis

The Right Hon. Paul Boateng, a member of the British House of Lords has condemned the riots in the United Kingdom�s capital, London, describing it as �unacceptable� and �saddening�. Speaking to guest host of the Citi Breakfast Show, Kwesi Kyei Darkwah on Tuesday August 9, Hon. Paul Boateng said the unrest in London is as a result of �leadership crisis, unemployment, poverty and values for young people�. The former cabinet Minister in the Blair administration and High Commissioner to South Africa has called on authorities to expedite action to restore law and order in the English capital and the various cities rocked by the unrest. Hon. Paul Boateng was however quick to debunk the notion that the black community is behind the unrest on-going in London saying the White, Asian and Black communities are involved in the unfortunate incident. �It is important to understand that this isn�t just young black people, if you look at the screens you see black people, white people and Asian people they are young British people and they are on the streets and that is a cause for real concern for the overwhelming majority of people who are law abiding. �But clearly there are crisis on our streets, it is a crisis of leadership at every level of society and confidence in leadership. It is also a crisis of values and quite frankly these scenes are unacceptable and it has to be sorted but in a way that we avoid a reaction that simply makes the situation worse but react we must as a society and learn the lessons of what is happening and those responsible must be brought to justice�. Rioting has spread across London on a third night of violence, with unrest flaring in other English cities. An extra 1,700 police officers were deployed in London, where shops were looted and buildings were set alight. Birmingham, Liverpool, Nottingham and Bristol also saw violence. The Prime Minister has returned early from his holiday to discuss the unrest, which first flared on Saturday August 6, after a peaceful protest in Tottenham over the fatal shooting of a man by police. At least 400 people have been arrested following a wave of "copycat criminal activity" across London over the past three days. More than 69 people have been charged with various offences. Hon Paul Boateng who is also a Patron of the MTN Ghana Foundation is in Ghana to commission the first of the 10 MTN ICT Centres of Learning on August 10, 2011 in the Ningo community in the Greater Accra region. The project is one of the flagship projects of the MTN Ghana Foundation and it is being implemented in partnership with UNDP. Hon. Paul Boateng however expressed disappointment that the youth programmes which he drafted during his tenure as Minister for Young People, which he says could have kept young people of the streets have been cut by the current government. Commenting on the commissioning of the 10 MTN ICT learning centres in Ghana, Hon. Paul Boateng lauded MTN for initiating such an idea to train young and needy people whose potential can be deployed for national development.