A motion to act or talk?
Parliamentary discussions on youth unemployment
A motion on youth unemployment was passed in parliament on 14 July and will be handed over to the relevant parliamentary committees.
A motion on youth unemployment, which was passed on 14 July, now lies in the hands of the standing parliamentary committee. This according to Rafael Hangula, the senior information officer at parliament.With a final note of disapproval for the lengthy period the motion took, Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) member of parliament Inna Hengari thanked all who supported the motion throughout its introduction to parliament.
It was first tabled in October 2021 and has finally been passed through to the standing committee, who is still to be identified by the committee services. Hengari said the committee will include - amongst others - herself, Maximalliant Katjimune (also from PDM) and Patience Masua from Swapo.
After the standing committee is identified, only then will relevant action be taken.
The motion will serve as a blueprint to tackle the youth unemployment issue in the country, Hengari said.
When the motion was tabled in 2021, it included - amongst various other recommendations - a call for a state of emergency to be made by President Hage Geingob. Furthermore, in the motion Hengari called for strengthened evaluating systems to track the implementation of various programmes by the government. In her final remarks at parliament after the motion was passed, Hengari said government fails to be transparent in terms of funds through its various programmes in place to tackle youth unemployment. The young member of parliament brought up the efforts by the government through the youth ministry, highlighting funds allocated to the National Youth Council (NYC) to establish green houses and support horticultural production.
She further said not a single cent has been accounted for of the sales that were made.
“This ministry is almost incapable of reporting of funds that have been allocated, not just to the NYC but also to the National Youth Service,” she said.
The outgoing executive director of the ministry, Audrin Mathe, in response to the parliamentary motion on youth unemployment, sent a document on the various youth programmes currently underway at the ministry.