Why cut the budget for the youth?

Amos Wint, Contributor

It has long been the tradition for those who govern to do that which they view as politically expedient. The latest episode is the gross neglect that has been meted out to the youth sector by those at the helm of the Ministry of Youth.

Most Jamaicans should be familiar with HEART and the National Youth Service, which are both programmes under the Ministry of Youth. However, for those who don't know, there is a certain agency under the Ministry of Youth called the National Centre for Youth Development (NCYD). The mandate of this agency is to mobilise the youth across Jamaica through intervention programmes and the provision of technical support; to empower and develop youth, as productive members of society.

NCYD is headed by a director who is answerable to the minister, and whomever else the minister may entrust with such authority. The agency employs what it calls youth empowerment officers, who are social engineers charged with the responsibility of executing the agency's mandate on the ground.

Shockingly, each parish, including Kingston and St Andrew, is allotted one or two empowerment officers to carry out the agency's mandate in these parishes. Imagine Clarendon having only a single youth empowerment officer, Manchester having two and St Elizabeth one. Anyone who has an interest in the development of youth would know that having one or two empowerment officers in these parishes is woefully inadequate and cannot make for effective and widespread execution of the mandate at hand.

Officers relocated

The empowerment officers in Manchester, since last year, have been removed from the Ministry of Education's regional office in Mandeville, and relocated to the Youth Information Centre at Brooks Park. Already required to put out extraordinary effort on the job, these officers are now forced to operate from their vehicles and homes as the conditions at the centre have become untenable - attributed mainly to the lack of basic utilities such as telephone and Internet services, as well as inadequate maintenance of the property. In addition, the centre needs conferencing facilities such as tables and chairs so that it may be used as a hub for youth-related activities.

The Youth Information Centre at Brooks Park, and its prototype in Westmoreland, were both built by the South Koreans. The Koreans, aside from constructing these buildings, ensured that they were fully furnished with computers, and computer desks along with other technological accessories. One thing, though, the Koreans got it dead right to build themselves, rather than to fund the government, saving us further peril. The role of government, at this time, would be to match the Koreans' benevolence by maintaining these fantastic facilities.

In 2004, the NCYD created the National Youth Council. The council - revamped last year - is described as the voice of youth clubs and youth groups across Jamaica. Once more, the Government has left the youth to fend for themselves, as there are little or no funds provided for the council or the emanating parish youth councils.

Last year's selection process for those who now represent the council was very low-key, so much so that the youth themselves, having not been fully engaged in their selection, are not too familiar with these representatives. The meetings of the council are poorly attended and the youth are not enticed by whatever happenings there are within these councils. How then will all youth have a voice? The Government, in effect, has stifled the voice of the youth. Why the hypocrisy? You say you give the youth a voice, but in effect you are doing the opposite.

It is an opportune time for governments to renounce this old politics, the tradition of only acting on things which seem expedient to the party. Let us consider the shattered and failing state of the nation. Let us consider that the youth are the leading casts of the Jamaican society. They are the ones who will show the world our prowess in both good and evil. Let us remember that the youth are the future, and if this nation should develop, the youth themselves must first be developed. Let us remember that the youth pay taxes too!

Why cut the budget for the youth? Yes, fix the roads, the economy and everything else, but we will never fix the nation without the youth and good governance.

Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and amoswint@hotmail.com.