Centre for Youth Empowerment and Civic Education has urged government to increase budgetary allocation to the youth sector, saying this will help address some challenges the youths are facing in the country.
The Executive Director of the organization, Lucky Mbewe said most youths in the country have nothing to do even if they finish their studies due to lack of employment.
”We expected the ministry to be given a large chunk of budgetary support so that it should be able to meet the needs of the youths in the country who constitute 65 percent of the country’s total population”.
Mbewe added that despite various organizations’ interventions to address the challenges that the youths in the country are facing, there is lack of financial muscle due to lack of enough funding towards the sector.
He therefore urged parliamentarians to play a major role in ensuring that youths in the country are given enough allocation in the national budget.
”Despite the challenges the youths face in the country, the ministry does not receive substantial budget allocation by members of parliament”, Mbewe added.
The Executive Director however asked politicians to immediately stop taking youths in the country as steps to their political glory, saying this hinders them from progressing in their respective careers.
”I would like to call upon the politicians to avoid using young people to advance their personal agendas by either using them to dance in political rallies or using them to perpetrate violence,’ he advised.
Mbewe therefore urged politicians to help strengthen and provide capacity building to the youths for them to be fully independent for the betterment of the country’s development.