OPPOSITION MP for Laventille East/Morvant Christian Birchwood has condemned the suspension of the Military-Led Academic Training Programme (MiLAT), rejec­ting Defence Minister Wayne Sturge’s claim that the decision was because it was not econo­mically viable.Sturge confirmed the programme’s suspension on Tuesday while maintaining it has not been shut down, saying the Government is undertaking a major restructuring of MiLAT.Speaking at the Oppo­sition’s news conference yesterday, Birchwood argued that the minister misunderstood the purpose of the programme.“It is my opinion had the minister done some research or some homework, he would understand that these programmes were designed to be socially viable, and there is a major difference there,” Birchwood said, adding that Sturge’s comments were “nonsensical”.He said MiLAT was created to “target the most vulnerable in our so­ciety” and described the minister’s position as “extremely punitive and insensitive at the very least”.Birchwood also rejec­ted Sturge’s suggestion that violent crime continued to increase despite the programme’s existence.“He is basically insinuating that this stand­alone programme should have stopped crime and has not stopped crime. It is unadulterated nonsense,” he said.Birchwood also challenged the minister’s argument on cost.“Especially if we take into consideration his last comment with respect to cost because by that logic, we should be suspending the TTPS because crime has been increasing, even though we have been spending more behind national security,” he said.Highlighting what he described as the pro­­gramme’s success, Birch­­wood said the 2024 cohort recorded an 86% pass rate in English Language and a 66.3% pass rate in mathematics.“What is the alterna­tive for this gap that you have now created? Because much like CEPEP, much like URP...it’s only the most vulnerable that actually feel the impact,” he said.