Siabutuba implores youths to be useful

Siabutuba implores youths to be useful
By Cynthia Phiri in Choma
Wed 23 Jan. 2013, 13:59 CAT

YOUTH Development Organisation executive director Partner Siabutuba has implored young people in the country to take advantage of the government's political will in youth leadership by being useful. In an interview, Siabutuba said the PF and its government had given a lot of leadership positions to the youth to serve at various levels and advised them not jeopardise their opportunities by allowing political parties to use them in perpetrating violence.

"For a long time now we have not seen youths take up leadership positions like we are seeing today. Most of our youths have been given jobs in foreign missions which is a plus to our generation. So youths should not shoot themselves in the foot by being disorderly," Siabutuba advised.

And Siabutuba urged youths in the country to fully participate in the Mpongwe and Livingstone by-election by electing leaders of their choice. He appealed to politicians to make good use of the youth than using them as tools for perpetrating violence.

"There is a lot that youths can do other than violence, like the situation we saw at Woodlands police station where they assaulted a police officer; instead youths can be mobilised and used as peer educators who can actually disseminate their party manifesto, there is no democracy in violence," Siabutuba said.

He said for the youth to enjoy respect, they need to have self-respect first and be able to show the rest of the world that they were ready to take up leadership positions.

Siabutuba explained that when the youth are known for lack of respect and violence, they tend to take away from what society perceived them to be.