Know your values, young people advised
AS the ruling party, PF in Southern Province we wish to take opportunity of this year's youth day celebrations to implore young people to know their value in the country's development agenda says Southern Province information and publicity secretary Trymore Mweenda.
In his statement to mark this year's Youth Day commemoration, Mr Mwenda observed that the ruling party had initiated and implementing many programs that were aimed at empowering young people in the country.
Mr. Mweenda said such initiatives and programmes had in many instances not yielded any results because young people had never taken keen interest in them.
In a statement released to the Daily Nation, Mr. Mweenda noted that many young people had continued to be used as tools of violence by selfish politicians.
"The PF government under the leadership of President, Edgar Lungu has initiated and is implementing many youth empowerment programs aimed at addressing challenges confronting the young people of this country from poverty, the disease burden to political exclusion," he said.
"These programmes and initiatives have in many instances not yielded the much desired results primarily because youths for whom they are intended have demonstrated inertia and apathy to take full participation and responsibility in pushing for a future they dream of," he noted.
Mr. Mweenda added that, "little wonder youths have continued to be used as tools of violence during elections because they are not in control of their destiny thus some selfish individuals especially morally bankrupt politicians take advantage of them by using them to cause mayhem." He said that President Lungu has been relentless in urging the young people to resist being used as tools of violence and has continued to embrace and harness the potential endowed in the young people through appointments into government and civil service positions.
"Our belief is that any well-meant interventions by President Lungu as demonstrated in the past of opening
up spaces for young people in the political arena and overall national governance will continue to amount to nothing unless the young people themselves engage in a paradigm shift and begin to understand their value in national development," he said.
Mr. Mweenda said, "the 2019 youth day celebrations provide the young people of this country across all political inclinations a great opportunity to launch a new way of engagement with government going forward."