By John Ekongo
WINDHOEK
The Swapo Party Youth League (SPYL) recently expressed concern about issues they feel have adverse effects on the state of the youth in the country.
The SPYL also congratulated Minister of Finance, Saara Kuugongwela-Amadhila for having tabled a budget that is “youth conscious.”
Some youth league top brass and members of the executive committee held a three-hour long press conference last week and made a series of demands on the Government.
Their concerns ranged from oil prices to property prices and performance of some parastatals.
The youth league complained about the ever-increasing cost of living in the country. SPYL noted that the ever increasing prices in oil is putting pressure on the average Namibian and demanded that Government do something about the situation.
“All of us know that fuel prices have a direct bearing on the cost of living, therefore SPYL calls on the Ministry of Mines and Energy not to consider further fuel increases to the consumers. Furthermore, we are proposing that Government impose a moratorium on price increments of basic commodities such as maize meal, flour, cooking and related food items,” announced Bernadus Swartbooi, the Acting Secretary for Information and Publicity of the Youth League.
SPYL also spoke about the empowerment of youth calling on Government to consider having young people appointed to the boards of directorship of State Owned Entities (SOE). This according to the youth league is necessary because they have been excluded for long.
They called for government tenders to be granted to young people whose companies meet tender requirements.
“On the matter of government procurement, we are of the view that qualifying Namibians should be able to access tenders not only already-empowered individuals,” stressed Veiko Nekundi, the Secretary for Economic Affairs.
On the SOE’s such as Roads Contractors Company (RCC), Road Fund Administration (RFA) and Motor Vehicle Accidents Fund (MVAF), the youth league believes that these entities can be merged to become one, and thereby save money.
“We make public our view that the RCC, RFA and MVAF be merged into one entity in order to reduce the costs on road users,” stated SPYL.
It feels these bodies are putting pressure on consumers hence they should be merged because they perform similar functions.
They also urged the City of Windhoek to consider solutions to curb the high cost of property prices in Windhoek.