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{
    "id": 956107,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/956107/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 356,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Endebess, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr.) Robert Pukose",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1458,
        "legal_name": "Robert Pukose",
        "slug": "robert-pukose"
    },
    "content": "One of the biggest challenges to this country is the issue of youth unemployment. The slow pace at which the youth access employment is a very big problem in our country. If you move outside there, you will find many graduates from the universities and others graduating from middle level colleges. Unemployment is a very critical issue. The other problem is that the Government is the biggest employer in our country. Thus, when the Government does not create opportunities to absorb those joining the job market, it becomes a problem. We have a Bill in this House through which a Member is proposing to reduce the retirement age to close to 50 years, yet there are some skilled areas like becoming a professor, a senior consultant in the medical world. Even in law, for you to attain that status of being a senior lawyer or a judge in the various courts needs experience. These are issues that are catching up with us. It is high time the Government thinks of innovative ways to create employment, especially to absorb the youth because that is one of the biggest challenges. I am happy yesterday, the President in swearing in the current Director of the National Youth Service (NYS) advised her to think of ways to make the NYS absorb the youth and rejuvenate what has been lost through the bad image that the NYS has had in the past few years. The NYS was meant to give these youths skills to become self-sufficient and self-reliant. Before the last election, we had the NYS going to many constituencies within the country. The NYS was absorbing youths and giving them skills and training so that these youths could also become entrepreneurs. They were opening accounts where they were doing some savings. Apparently, this seems to have collapsed after the elections. I think this is an area we hope the new director will look at and see how this can be jumpstarted to make these youths at home absorbed into the job market. Another area is technical training institutes. I am happy some of the technical institutes are teaching skills like hairdressing, carpentry and masonry to youths without making it mandatory that they have some basic requirements. These are youths we can channel into the market of building and construction which is one of the Big Four Agenda of the President. This can only be realised if we align our youths to fit in various markets, not just waiting for absorption from Government. We should look for ways our youths can be innovative."
}