Youth And Sport Ministry Deserves A Bigger Budget
By: PENDAPALA HANGALA
OUR government should take note that underfunding youth investment in terms of arts, sport and culture is tantamount to destroying the wishes and aspirations of an entire generation.
This situation is not healthy in an environment where more than 60 percent of the population are the youth.
The Minister of Finance allocated N$1.9 billion to the Ministry of Youth, National Service, Sport and Culture to be spent over a period of three years. This basically means an average of N$635 million per year. What the nation needs to know and understand is that more than 87 percent of this budget allocation is spent on the ministry’s personnel and operational expenses, which leaves less than 13 percent for the development of arts, sport and cultural activities for all Namibians. This situation, especially looking at the high unemployment among the youth, the unbalanced socio-economic environment and numerous challenges facing young people, is not sustainable in the long term.
In my opinion, the ministry of youth and sport should get at least N$2 billion per year to enable it to fulfill its obligations towards the youth. Failure to invest this amount every year could signify that the government is not serious about the aspirations of the youth and in turn, the attainment of Vision 2030. This vision depends on the social well-being and the industrial capacity of Namibians, which is linked to the professional levels of arts, sport and culture in the country. A healthy and productive nation can produce wonders provided the right environment and incentives are in place.
Namibia has a lot of talent that goes to waste simply because the ministry’s budgets are never adequate or they are merely motivated for this government division’s internal use instead of towards the true beneficiaries of the ministry and those funds. The ideal situation would have been 25 percent going toward administrative and operational expenses and the balance of 75 percent towards the development and empowerment of our people.
And seriously, why does the government continue to waste on average N$635 million per year on an institution that does not produce any tangible broad-based results (such as employment creation) for the nation? How many Namibians are sustainably employed as a result of this investment? Why does the government continue to pay dead wood at this ministry just to push papers at the expense of the many young Namibians?
N$635 million a year is the input into arts, sport and culture but what are the outputs of this investment? Scarce financial resources invested at that level should equally produce employment otherwise it is a total waste of time and money and should rather be invested in education or in the SME Bank to fund small businesses.
Our government should also know by now that the private sector has no significant interest to invest in arts, sport and culture and it cannot be forced to do so. The private sector is simply interested in sucking dry the citizens of this country without due regard to the social well-being and needs of the Namibian society at large.
Our Swapo-led government should also take note that one of the main reasons why there is voter apathy among the youth in this country is because they (the youth) generally feel that the government is not interested in investing in them. Individual achievement by one or two Namibians in the areas of arts, sport and culture should not distract us from the broader obligation by the government to invest for the benefit of the majority of the youth.
The youth votes for the government with the anticipation that the leaders will in return also cater to their social and economic needs. The government needs to greatly subsidise the sector of art, sport and cultural to enable it to reach levels where it can to contribute meaningfully to the socio-economic development of the country.
It is therefore my personal view and request that our Swapo-led government should consider investing at least N$2 billion per year in the youth ministry with the clear aim to uplift and empower the young people of this country with a sense of hope, pride and belonging.
* Pendapala Hangala is a Swapo youth activist and the article is written as a contribution towards the youth discourse, development and empowerment.