Youths unhappy with MMD govt - Soko

Youths unhappy with MMD govt - Soko
By Salim Dawood
Sun 02 Jan. 2011, 04:01 CAT

A YOUTH organisation says President Rupiah Banda must not mislead himself into believing that the praises being sang for him by some hired youths reflect the collective feeling of the country’s young people.

In an interview, Former Street Children’s Association coordinator, Richard Soko said the majority of the youths in the country were suffering and unhappy with President Banda and his government.

Soko said the only youths who could celebrate the government’s performance were the ones abusing drugs and alcohol, whom he said needed reformation but instead were being exploited and used by the MMD to fan violence.

He said the genuine youths were either languishing on the streets looking for employment which the government had failed to provide, or suffering in prisons.

“We do not want the government to give us money. We want the government to provide employment so we don’t have to go to prison for stealing or engaging in dangerous vices,” he said.

Soko said the youth were angry and frustrated with the sky rocketing unemployment levels while President Banda was busy flying around the world.

He said the deplorable state of infrastructure in high institutions of learning like the University of Zambia was a sign that the government did not care about the youth.

Soko, himself a former street child, complained that children on the streets continued suffering because the government was not serious with Zambia National Service programme that was supposed to help them integrate back into society.

“The people that are there (ZNS) right now are children of ministers and high-ranking government officials, not the real vulnerable children,” he said.

“The President has not attended to any projects aimed at addressing the plight of the youth. We have heard that he brought K5 billion to the Ministry of Youth, Sport and Child Development, but we have not seen that money. As we were going to the youth indaba, we were told that government had given the ministry K10 billion that was just lying and waiting for the youth, but that's just a campaign strategy. We the youth we are suffering,” he said.

Soko said the youth longed for a leader who would understand their plight and take development to their communities.