FORMER youth deputy minister Juliet Kavetuna said there is a competitiveness and duplication of programmes between the National Youth Council (NYC) and the ministry, which waste resources.
Kavetuna was speaking at the official opening ceremony of the NYC representative council meeting, held in Windhoek yesterday morning.
“The main thing here is not to expose people, but I want to say it is more than creating a platform. Because duplication is a waste of resources that we do not have in this country,” Kavetuna said.
While she served as deputy youth minister and NYC secretary general, Kavetuna said she observed a competitiveness between the two organisations which should be complementing each other.
“When I came into that office, I could see that competition between the ministry and the NYC. Because the ministry is having the money, the NYC is having the idea. It was a battle. It stayed like that for nearly four years and I left it like that. I wonder if it succeeded.”
Kavetuna said currently the NYC and the sport ministry have two similar programmes centred on a youth employment scheme.
“The ministry is having somebody who is running with bags of money for village events, giving money like N$200 for each person with no structure.
“The NYC is having a better structure that is recognised by many institutions that is giving our youth the opportunity to become banks that are having credibility.”
Kavetuna questioned whether the two projects could be combined in order to move forward with a better structure. She also questioned the NYC on the youth agenda in the country, which she said needs to be defined.
Meanwhile, current deputy youth minister Emma Kantema-Gaomas believes the NYC is at the forefront of the youth agenda in the country.
“Let’s prioritise youth matters,” Kantema-Gaomas said.
She also implored the NYC to advocate the needs of the youth.
“Let us not be partisan. Let’s not politicise youth issues. Just like the status of education and health, the status of the unemployed youth is still a serious matter,” she said.
During the meeting, Kantema-Gaomas urged the NYC not to take a stance of “us versus them”.
“We are in it together. We all have to consider what is best for Namibia’s young women and men,” she said.
Kantema-Gaomas’ comments come in the wake of previous NYC meetings characterised by disputes and infighting.
She added that the NYC must deliberate on ways to address gender-based violence.
“Furthermore, crime reports by the Namibian Police indicate that in 2021 there were about 1 000 cases of sexual and gender-based violence, many involving young people both as victim and perpetrator. This too is a concern that needs to be deliberated in depth for solutions,” she said.
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