PNU bemoans high youth unemployment

THE high number of unemployed graduates must concern government, says Party for National Unity (PNU) president Highvie Hamududu.

Mr. Hamududu said the youth unemployment rate was rising in Zambia and government must initiate programmes that would create employment opportunities, especially for those who could not get white collar jobs.

“It’s good that we have many students graduating and I wish we could have even more. Zambia has such a useful population but government has to ensure the graduates have something to do after graduating,” he said in an interview.

Mr. Hamududu said the government must help the graduates create their own jobs by facilitating their access to finances because they were skilled enough to become entrepreneurs and create jobs for others.

The PNU president said government must further ensure the Ministry of Youth and Sport did not administer the youth empowerment fund because such arrangement had failed to yield desired results.

“They (the ministry) appeared in the Auditor General’s Report in which it was reported that K45 million was wasted. Let the youth empowerment fund be given to professional institutions such as Citizen Economic Empowerment Commission (CEEC) or Development Bank of Zambia (DBZ) for the young people to access the money,” he said.

He said government should also broaden its procurement system so that young local entrepreneurs could begin to participate in public tenders.

“We expect government, through its many works, tenders and other forms of procurement, to include youth groups. We want to see young people on the roads that are being constructed across the country,” he said.

Mr. Hamududu urged the young people to push government to ensure it created an enabling environment for them to thrive.