A leadership guru is calling on Government to establish a Department of Men?s Issues and Educational Development.

Dr. Myles Munroe said men in Bermuda aren?t reaching their full potential and when they don?t succeed the country as a whole suffers.

?The man needs to succeed in order for the family to succeed,? he said.

Dr. Munroe was keynote speaker at the ?Change a Nation in our Generation? conference at the weekend.

The aim of the conference was to focus on the ever-increasing plight of lawlessness, vice and violence in the community.

The internationally renowned leadership development speaker is founder, president and senior pastor of the Bahamas Faith Ministries International.

Dr. Munroe, who spoke to after the conference, said a new approach was needed when dealing with the Island?s young men under 25 who are in prison. ?The prison system needs to change its approach, instead of correction it needs to become more of a centre of rehabilitation, one of re-education? Dr. Munroe said.

?They need to come out of prison and either go straight into an education programme or be set to work. Otherwise there will be a continuous problem of recidivism. Men need to regain their dignity and to feel like useful members of society again.?

Dr. Munroe was keen to stress that many of the problems facing young mothers and the community were largely due to men.

?Teenage pregnancy is a male problem, illegitimate children is a male problem,? he said. ?Ninety percent of the prison population has suffered domestic abuse, suffers from drug abuse and most are angry with their fathers, whether they were in the home or not.?

He said if you healed the men in the community the family was healed and was no longer dysfunctional.

Dr. Munroe held a series of conferences at the Church of God on North Shore Road, Pembroke, on healing and helping the Island to rid much of the lawlessness which currently exists. The best-selling author also focused on marriages and Governmental leadership issues. ?Men are not only supposed to be the leaders of the household, but also leaders of the nation. But Bermuda has become a nation led by women, women who are raising men ? men who are not productive and filling the prisons.?

Dr. Munroe also called on the churches around the Island to set up out-reach programmes for men in the community.

?Men need to take their place and if they don?t society will continue to fail.?