Speaker of Parliament Anita Among has urged stakeholders to involve young people in all planning and decision-making processes in order to ensure sustainable outcomes of the different initiatives in the county.
She said that the participation of young people provides perspectives and input that can improve planning, especially with regard to the challenges and needs most relevant to youth.
“I call upon all stakeholders to listen to the challenges that young people face so that we make special consideration while planning. Most of these challenges include Post COVID19 economic challenges which left many jobless, Climate Change and its effects on Agricultural Output and food security, High Population growth rate which greatly affects living standards among others.’’
Ms Among made the remarks as she opened the 5th National Youth Parliament on August 5th,2022.
She further noted that: ‘’For a country with over 75% of the population below 30, it is critical to use different approaches such as creating resilient and sustainable social-economic systems that will empower and support the youth.’’
She called for increased accessibility to Loans, improved social services and more skilling initiatives to address the plight of the young people.
“Cognizant of Government’s efforts to address these challenges through initiatives such as the Youth Livelihood Program, Green jobs, graduate volunteer schemes and many others, the young assert that they have not been consulted or engaged in the policy making processes. Therefore, it is important that assemblies like the Youth Parliament are supported to foster involvement of young people in key civic decision-making spaces to influence the policy and legislative agenda of the nation.’’
She also pledged Parliament’s full support to the resolutions that were made during the Youth Parliament sitting, and also ensure that the issues raised are shared with the relevant ministries for action.
European Union representative Nicholas Gonze commended Parliament for consistently providing young people with platform to speak and be heard.
