NYL wants action on social ills

THE Nudo Youth League (NYL) convened its first congress at the weekend with calls to Government to address the various socio-economic problems affecting young people in Namibia.

The NYL listed these ‘ills’ as crime, unemployment, poverty, teenage pregnancy and substance abuse. “The NYL is concerned with the current standard of our education system, it is throwing many young people into the streets where they indulge in crime and alcohol and drug abuse,” charged NYL acting Secretary General Abia Uhongora.Uhongora said that unless the Swapo-led Government did something drastic, the current high unemployment rate and the scourge of the HIV-AIDS pandemic posed serious threats to Namibian youths.He urged the Ministry of Higher Education and Employment Creation to allocate more funds for scholarships so that more students could be given the opportunity to study.He suggested that the current situation where the Government bursary scheme apparently only benefited one ethnic group needed to be corrected.In his opening remarks at the congress, Nudo President Kuaima Riruako said Namibia still faced the challenge of establishing a democratic and non-tribal government.”Such a government must satisfy the essential political, social, economic and spiritual aspirations of all Namibians based on our history and cultural values, and sustained by a strong economic foundation of free enterprise and social justice,” Riruako said in a statement read on his behalf by Nudo Secretary for Legal Affairs, Sam Kauapirura.The Nudo leader further declared that racial and tribal prejudice and discrimination were an abomination and a national shame that had to be strongly opposed in an independent Namibia.”Our country cannot enjoy being a just, free, democratic and morally God-fearing nation so long as minority ethnic groups are denied their fundamental rights and opportunities enjoyed by their fellow citizens,” he warned.Riruako’s comments were echoed by the party’s Secretary General, Joseph Kauandege, who accused Government of constantly blaming its own mistakes on the previous colonial regime.He charged that “14 years [of independence] are enough for the Swapo Government to take responsibility for its own mess… the Boers are no longer here, they are in South Africa”.Apart from taking an indepth look at pertinent issues affecting the youth, the congress was expected to consider the NYL draft constitution and to elect a new leadership.The congress was also expected to deliberate on the party’s strategies for the forthcoming general and regional elections.Nudo, affiliated with the DTA since 1978, pulled out of the alliance towards the end of last year and registered with the Electoral Commission as an independent political party.”The NYL is concerned with the current standard of our education system, it is throwing many young people into the streets where they indulge in crime and alcohol and drug abuse,” charged NYL acting Secretary General Abia Uhongora.Uhongora said that unless the Swapo-led Government did something drastic, the current high unemployment rate and the scourge of the HIV-AIDS pandemic posed serious threats to Namibian youths.He urged the Ministry of Higher Education and Employment Creation to allocate more funds for scholarships so that more students could be given the opportunity to study.He suggested that the current situation where the Government bursary scheme apparently only benefited one ethnic group needed to be corrected.In his opening remarks at the congress, Nudo President Kuaima Riruako said Namibia still faced the challenge of establishing a democratic and non-tribal government.”Such a government must satisfy the essential political, social, economic and spiritual aspirations of all Namibians based on our history and cultural values, and sustained by a strong economic foundation of free enterprise and social justice,” Riruako said in a statement read on his behalf by Nudo Secretary for Legal Affairs, Sam Kauapirura.The Nudo leader further declared that racial and tribal prejudice and discrimination were an abomination and a national shame that had to be strongly opposed in an independent Namibia.”Our country cannot enjoy being a just, free, democratic and morally God-fearing nation so long as minority ethnic groups are denied their fundamental rights and opportunities enjoyed by their fellow citizens,” he warned.Riruako’s comments were echoed by the party’s Secretary General, Joseph Kauandege, who accused Government of constantly blaming its own mistakes on the previous colonial regime.He charged that “14 years [of independence] are enough for the Swapo Government to take responsibility for its own mess… the Boers are no longer here, they are in South Africa”.Apart from taking an indepth look at pertinent issues affecting the youth, the congress was expected to consider the NYL draft constitution and to elect a new leadership.The congress was also expected to deliberate on the party’s strategies for the forthcoming general and regional elections.Nudo, affiliated with the DTA since 1978, pulled out of the alliance towards the end of last year and registered with the Electoral Commission as an independent political party.