WINDHOEK
Young people make up 60 percent of the Namibian population and should use their statistical advantage to advance their interests.
Ar the last session of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung’s public dialogue to mark 25 years of its activities in Namibia, Peik Bruhns, an organisational development consultant, encouraged the predominantly youthful audience to stand up for themselves.
In line with the main theme: “Women’s Empowerment and Namibian Youth Ready for Change”, Bruhns remarked that the youth must free themselves from the traps of materialism, like ‘tenderpreneurship’ and the blind pursuit of bling cars, which are part of the “adult organisation” in which they are trapped.
Young people, Bruhns added, need to realise that unlike the current notion of the “adult organisation”, which most of the time looks down upon the youth, there is nothing wrong with being young. In essence the category of youth refers to the majority. That gives young people a powerful base for their own advancement.
Such advancement requires that young people start to define themselves, as opposed to ways in which they are currently characterised, legally and otherwise.
Contrary to the notion that the youth of today are the leaders of tomorrow, various comments from presenters and the floor expressed the view that they are the “now generation”, whose numerical advantage dictates that they partake in societal transformation now.
The other presenters were Dr Lucy Edwards Jauch, a senior lecturer in the Department of Sociology at the University of Namibia (Unam), and one of the Affirmative Repositioning (AR) trio, George Kambala.
In his brief remarks Kambala cautioned the youth that while this is their time, especially in view of their numerical majority, not be consumed and confused by their majority. Rather they should be motivated, inspired and confident. So that they are not denied their right to contribute towards their country.
Foremost, they should not fall in with the tendency of always expecting the government to do things for them, but should see what they can do for their country, and for themselves.
In the sober and constructive exchange that followed between the audience and discussants, a number of issues were raised, including the state of the various youth wings and political structures, supposedly led by the youth, but which are little more than means of governing and controlling the youth.
In view of the government’s industrialisation drive, it was noted that there is no way this could be realised while young people – who are potentially the most productive stratum – have not been empowered. One participant asked how industrialisation was possible when industries demand experience from young graduates fresh from tertiary institutions.
Likewise, how can the youth become agents of industrialisation while they are deliberately barred from industries – supposedly due to lack of experience? On the other hand they cannot start their own enterprises for lack of start-up capital, and collateral from financial institutions.
Hence the need for young people to create their own structures through which they can unlock their potential and groom their own leaders.
The forum was also alerted to the need for the current leadership to put in place mechanisms of developing a second and third layer of leaders in time to avoid a leadership vacuum, as seems to have been developing in many structures of society, including at a national level.