Lahja Nashuuta
Popular Democratic Movement member of parliament Maximalliant Katjimune has advised government to consider merging the National Youth Council with the National Youth Service to avoid a duplication of responsibilities, programmes, resources and overlapping policies affecting the youth demographic.
Addressing parliament on Tuesday, he submitted that the NYS and NYC’s powers and functions are similar as they all serve as a meeting point for youth from various social and cultural backgrounds to enable the youth to share common experiences, and to encourage notions of equality.
Katjimune said both institutions intend to provide the youth with opportunities for further studies and training to enhance their opportunities of employment, and for the youth to take part in national development voluntarily.
In the current financial year, the NYC was allocated a total of N$32 million from the N$679 million which was allocated to the Ministry of Youth, Sport and National Service.
The NYC, which runs the youth development grants programme, is earmarked to enhance business productivity among young people. They were allocated a total of N$96 million to administer almost the same programmes as those of the NYC.
“This is a clear duplication of responsibilities, programmes, resources and conflicting policies. There is simply no need to have two different bodies which are serving the same strata of the population, especially for a country with a small population like Namibia,” the MP said.
Katjimune was also of the view that various horticultural, mushroom and charcoal production projects run by the NYC in the Erongo, Kunene, Omusati, Oshana, Ohangwena and Oshikoto regions should be merged with the already-existing civic and skills’ training programmes being offered by the NYS, and be consolidated under one division administered by the NYS.
“The affiliates of the NYC, comprising Christian youth, political bodies, youth NGOs and students’ organisations, should be consolidated into a department administered under the NYS,” Katjimune proposed.
He further emphasised the need for the government to avoid the duplication of bodies to be able to provide higher quality, efficient, faster and more transparent services to citizens.
He made reference to countries such as India, where about 94 government departments were merged into 37, and saw a major increase in service delivery and structural cost outputs.
“Equally, in 2017, the Singaporean government executed one of the most successful mergers of government agencies when it merged two government entities, the International Enterprise and the Standards, Productivity and Innovation Board into one single entity, which saw the rise of enhanced competitiveness and support for business,” he reasoned.
– lnashuuta@gmail.com