By: Hilma Tuukondjele 

LPM’s Youth Command Element will launch an integrated youth development strategy. This was said by its leader Duminga Ndala at a press conference on Wednesday in Windhoek. 

The strategy is aimed at enhancing the youth’s ability to access opportunities and participate in the broader economy.

Ndala said the youth element has observed that the African child is lagging due to the global changes. 

In this light, she asked the government to prioritise and present pragmatic solutions for addressing Namibia’s stunts in technological and scientific innovation.

“It will expand the range of opportunities for young people in various sectors such as sports, education, fishing, tourism and procurement,” she said. 

She explained that the national youth policy, which was launched last year, does not speak to how young people will benefit in the various sectors.

Launched on 21 July 2021, the national youth policy seeks to ensure that young Namibians are empowered and become self-reliant and productive citizens through improved education, health and economic outcomes, and increased political participation.

“How many young people do we know own fishing quarters? How many young people do we know own tourism concessions?” she questioned. 

She added that the strategy would address and present opportunities for young people to access better opportunities and funding, adding that it will also create a framework within which all youth-related work can be coordinated and linked.

Ndala explained that all ministries would be required to have a budget dedicated to young people while arguing that it should be the role of the youth ministry only. 

“We want a youth budget in the ministry of finance and every other ministry. This will be the only way to address the high unemployment rate in Namibia. This is the only way that will enhance young people to have access to opportunities if each ministry has a youth budget, ” she said.

According to the youth element, the strategy will also supplement the national youth policy.

At the same time, Ndala showed her disappointment with the Niilo Taapopi Senior Secondary School’s principal, who sent students home because they couldn’t pay hostel fees.

Earlier this week, several learners at the school located at Okahao in the Omusati region were allegedly sent back home on Sunday for not taking along N$150 hostel fees.

“We, the LPM youth command element, say that education is not only a priority, but it’s a human right, meaning every person should have access to education. It’s a human right and becomes a legal right too,” she said. 

Ndala stressed that children should not be punished for the poverty of their parents, who have limited access to essential means of livelihood. 

In this vein, she believes that they are attempts to destroy and degenerate the academic career of the Namibian child since no child should be turned away based on unaffordability. 

Additionally, she speaks about sports, proposing that the sports ministry introduces an athlete-centred approach for all sports personal in the country.

“Every athlete or sports person in the country should be given a sports system so that they can enhance their development and can unearth their skills.”

Moreover, she also showed disappointment in the availability of physiotherapists.

“The athlete-centred approach is for the sports people to have physiotherapists, psychologists, nutritionists, dietitians and more so that they would be able to perform better and can represent the country on a larger scale,” she added.

On unemployment, she said the unemployment rate is at 41 per cent, and it could grow to 51 per cent by the end of the year.

“It is a factor that needs to be dealt with before it erupts into what is known as the youth pandemic.”

Ndala concludes that the party is trying to prevent havoc caused by the youth from happening.