Youth In The Dark

ALLOW me to post a few points of information in your marvellous publication.

I am, or rather was, a member of the “first-ever Namibian National Youth Parliament” launched on March 8 2004, representing the Khomas Region. The recent launch of the ‘First Namibian Children’s Parliament 2007’ did not come as a surprise to me because in March 2005 I was invited, along with other fellow learners, to attend the opening session of the National Youth Parliamentary session for 2005.That came as a surprise to me because in my understanding, I was still a member of the youth parliament because since the inaugural ceremony, there was no other event that took place to mark the end of our serving period! My fellow parliamentarians and I were left in the dark as to what was going on.The only information I ever received from the organisers of the youth parliament (The National Council) was a document titled ‘Youth Parliament Hansard’ in 2004, which contains the written proceedings of the 2004 Youth Parliamentary session.I tried numerous times to contact the office of a so-called “Ephraim Jane”, whom I could never get to speak to over the telephone.Later in the year (2004 still), I was contacted via my school principal that I should get hold of Mr Ephraim Jane in connection with a trip to Finland.I managed, with the help of the Khomas Regional Council, to get to the National Council chamber building were I was told by Mr Ephraim Jane’s secretary about the trip and she told me that they would contact me later – that was the last I heard from the National Council.My concern is the labelling of the recent Children’s Parliament as the first such parliament.When we were being selected the documents stated that we were going to serve on the Children’s Parliament, but the title was later changed to Youth Parliament.What difference is there between us, the youth parliamentarians, and the child parliamentarians? Our selection was based on the criteria requiring us to be in grade 12 (an exception was made for the Khomas Region’s candidates, who were grade 11 learners – myself and a young woman) among other things.Will I be forgiven for assuming that the same applies to the recent parliamentarians’ selection procedures? Also, we featured heavily in the media and much more publicity was made about us than this year’s parliament, yet they claim it to be the first without referring to the 2004 session.The very same picture that featured on the front-page of The Namibian looks almost exactly as the one we took in 2004.Secondly, financial remuneration is one thing, but what about a certificate or any other document confirming our participation in the Youth Parliament? There is a problem with the leadership of this country if such things happen and nothing is done about it.I am just so sorry I could not get hold of Lize Kubersky, president of the (still) Namibian National Youth Parliament (which was officially inaugurated but never officially dissolved), for we could have made an exceptional difference in the outcome of all this mess! Vaino T Hangula Khomas Region Youth ParliamentarianThe recent launch of the ‘First Namibian Children’s Parliament 2007’ did not come as a surprise to me because in March 2005 I was invited, along with other fellow learners, to attend the opening session of the National Youth Parliamentary session for 2005.That came as a surprise to me because in my understanding, I was still a member of the youth parliament because since the inaugural ceremony, there was no other event that took place to mark the end of our serving period! My fellow parliamentarians and I were left in the dark as to what was going on.The only information I ever received from the organisers of the youth parliament (The National Council) was a document titled ‘Youth Parliament Hansard’ in 2004, which contains the written proceedings of the 2004 Youth Parliamentary session.I tried numerous times to contact the office of a so-called “Ephraim Jane”, whom I could never get to speak to over the telephone.Later in the year (2004 still), I was contacted via my school principal that I should get hold of Mr Ephraim Jane in connection with a trip to Finland.I managed, with the help of the Khomas Regional Council, to get to the National Council chamber building were I was told by Mr Ephraim Jane’s secretary about the trip and she told me that they would contact me later – that was the last I heard from the National Council.My concern is the labelling of the recent Children’s Parliament as the first such parliament.When we were being selected the documents stated that we were going to serve on the Children’s Parliament, but the title was later changed to Youth Parliament.What difference is there between us, the youth parliamentarians, and the child parliamentarians? Our selection was based on the criteria requiring us to be in grade 12 (an exception was made for the Khomas Region’s candidates, who were grade 11 learners – myself and a young woman) among other things.Will I be forgiven for assuming that the same applies to the recent parliamentarians’ selection procedures? Also, we featured heavily in the media and much more publicity was made about us than this year’s parliament, yet they claim it to be the first without referring to the 2004 session.The very same picture that featured on the front-page of The Namibian looks almost exactly as the one we took in 2004.Secondly, financial remuneration is one thing, but what about a certificate or any other document confirming our participation in the Youth Parliament? There is a problem with the leadership of this country if such things happen and nothing is done about it.I am just so sorry I could not get hold of Lize Kubersky, president of the (still) Namibian National Youth Parliament (which was officially inaugurated but never officially dissolved), for we could have made an exceptional difference in the outcome of all this mess! Vaino T Hangula Khomas Region Youth Parliamentarian