National Youth Council (NYC) acting executive chairperson Patience Masua says she does not determine her own salary.
Masua, a former Swapo parliamentarian who was announced last Friday as NYC interim executive chairperson, was responding to inquiries following a report by the Windhoek Observer this week that she will be earning a monthly salary of N$100 000 for three months.
The appointment follows the resignation of Kennedy Kariseb early this month.
“Sorry, I don’t pay myself. Perhaps you can reach out to the Ministry of Education, Innovation, Youth, Sport, Arts and Culture to answer on remuneration-related matters,” Masua told The Namibian yesterday.
National Council of Students (NCS) president Willem Tjitaare says a N$100 000 monthly salary would be disproportionate when compared to the financial support provided to the council’s 52 affiliate organisations.
“The amount is simply too much when you consider what the institution gives to its affiliates. They only offer N$20 000 per organisation per year,” Tjitaare says.
He adds that the NCS received N$20 000 from the NYC in 2023 and N$15 000 in 2024, while no funding was disbursed in 2025.
“Last year, we did not receive any funding due to the leadership vacuum at NYC,” he says.
Popular Democratic Movement Youth League spokesperson Benson Katjirijova has criticised the alleged salary, describing it as unjustifiable.
“It is ridiculous for an institution that offers nothing tangible to the youth to pay an interim executive chairperson N$100 000.
People are going hungry at home, yet that entire amount goes to one individual.
The NYC has failed the youth of this country,” Katjirijova says.
He further suggests that the NYC be merged with the National Youth Service (NYS).
“I think the NYC and the NYS must be merged.
The NYS is performing far better than the NYC,” he says.
He also accuses the NYC of being used as a political battleground within the Swapo Party Youth League.
“For Swapo youth who want to climb the political ladder and become full politicians, the pathway often goes through the NYC. It has become like a Swapo institution,” Katjirijova says.
“Over the past four to five years, what has the NYC really done or delivered to the Namibian youth?” he asks.
He adds that many young people are largely unaware of the council’s mandate.
Former NYC executive chairperson Kariseb says the remuneration of the executive chairperson is predetermined in terms of the applicable legislative framework and subject to the concurrence of the line minister.
“However, this is a serious issue that requires reconsideration in the proposed amendments to the NYC Act,” Kariseb says.
He says his resignation was prompted, among other reasons, by internal power struggles undermining his role as chairperson.
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