Jobless youth give Friday deadline
Again, unemployed graduates have taken to the streets in a bid to secure work, giving the prime minister until Friday to provide a lasting solution.
A group of unemployed graduates including accountants, lawyers, economists, agriculturalists and others, took to the streets on Friday protesting the Namibian government's inability to create jobs for them.
About 250 graduates marched from the Wernhil taxi rank to the Zoo Park in Windhoek and chanted slogans that read 'down with corruption', 'give us the jobs of the ghost teachers that are paid'. They appealed to Prime Minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila to provide a solution on or before 27 July 2018.
Their petition, handed over in the Zoo Park, was received by director of inter-government coordination in the Office of the Prime Minister, Mateus Kaholongo, who promised the group the matter would be handled appropriately.
The graduates accused government of shattering the dreams of many Namibians when it decided to freeze jobs in the public sector. They also take government on for insisting to employ foreigners in entry-level jobs while Namibian graduates are forced to earn peanuts as cattle herders or street vendors.
Another thorn in the flesh of jobless youth is that government continues paying salaries to 'ghost teachers' but finds it difficult to create jobs for them in those ministries.
The youth in particular demanded that government must fulfil its promises of creating jobs as was promised in Vision 2030, the National Development Plans (NDPs) and the Harambee Prosperity Plan.
“The budget projections have been on an increase yet there is no creation of new positions or filling of existing vacancies. We indeed have taken note that the embezzlement of state funds has been on an increase including at government agencies.
“There is no accountability on over-spending, and corruption in our government has been rewarded. This clearly is a deliberate way to maintain the status quo,” the petition read.
They further demanded that all posts that are not filled in government ministries must be filled using them immediately.
“A placement process should commence in order for us to assist government in its current situation. It is key that new ideas and energy are injected into the system to defeat the status quo.”
Desperate situation
With the release of the latest Labour Force Survey last year, an estimated 349 000 individuals were found to be unemployed, with the national employment rate standing at 34%.
Worryingly, 246 000 individuals aged 16 to 34 were found to be unemployed out of the total bringing the youth unemployment rate to 43.4%.
Experts believes that the sky-high youth unemployment rate, coupled with little political will to deal with it, poses a grave threat to the country.
Local professor of economics Omu Kakujaha-Matundu warned that youth unemployment is a powder keg, and if there are no serious efforts to tame the current high rate of youth unemployment in Namibia, the system could explode.
“It is a painful situation to see that parents have sent children to school to improve their living conditions and contribute to the economy of the country but there are no jobs for them,” he said
Kakujaha-Matundu however urged unemployed graduates to be innovative and while they pressure government to create jobs, also come to the table with solutions.
“What the protests do is that they create expectations that when you have finished school there will be a job for you.
But these graduates have gone to school, they have been trained to think.
They should then come up with projects that government or the private sector can fund.
Those that can, should up-skill themselves and harness the internet to find jobs outside Namibia,” he advised.
JEMIMA BEUKES
About 250 graduates marched from the Wernhil taxi rank to the Zoo Park in Windhoek and chanted slogans that read 'down with corruption', 'give us the jobs of the ghost teachers that are paid'. They appealed to Prime Minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila to provide a solution on or before 27 July 2018.
Their petition, handed over in the Zoo Park, was received by director of inter-government coordination in the Office of the Prime Minister, Mateus Kaholongo, who promised the group the matter would be handled appropriately.
The graduates accused government of shattering the dreams of many Namibians when it decided to freeze jobs in the public sector. They also take government on for insisting to employ foreigners in entry-level jobs while Namibian graduates are forced to earn peanuts as cattle herders or street vendors.
Another thorn in the flesh of jobless youth is that government continues paying salaries to 'ghost teachers' but finds it difficult to create jobs for them in those ministries.
The youth in particular demanded that government must fulfil its promises of creating jobs as was promised in Vision 2030, the National Development Plans (NDPs) and the Harambee Prosperity Plan.
“The budget projections have been on an increase yet there is no creation of new positions or filling of existing vacancies. We indeed have taken note that the embezzlement of state funds has been on an increase including at government agencies.
“There is no accountability on over-spending, and corruption in our government has been rewarded. This clearly is a deliberate way to maintain the status quo,” the petition read.
They further demanded that all posts that are not filled in government ministries must be filled using them immediately.
“A placement process should commence in order for us to assist government in its current situation. It is key that new ideas and energy are injected into the system to defeat the status quo.”
Desperate situation
With the release of the latest Labour Force Survey last year, an estimated 349 000 individuals were found to be unemployed, with the national employment rate standing at 34%.
Worryingly, 246 000 individuals aged 16 to 34 were found to be unemployed out of the total bringing the youth unemployment rate to 43.4%.
Experts believes that the sky-high youth unemployment rate, coupled with little political will to deal with it, poses a grave threat to the country.
Local professor of economics Omu Kakujaha-Matundu warned that youth unemployment is a powder keg, and if there are no serious efforts to tame the current high rate of youth unemployment in Namibia, the system could explode.
“It is a painful situation to see that parents have sent children to school to improve their living conditions and contribute to the economy of the country but there are no jobs for them,” he said
Kakujaha-Matundu however urged unemployed graduates to be innovative and while they pressure government to create jobs, also come to the table with solutions.
“What the protests do is that they create expectations that when you have finished school there will be a job for you.
But these graduates have gone to school, they have been trained to think.
They should then come up with projects that government or the private sector can fund.
Those that can, should up-skill themselves and harness the internet to find jobs outside Namibia,” he advised.
JEMIMA BEUKES
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