The Landless People’s Movement (LPM) youth command element has taken a swipe at President Hage Geingob, who last week told unemployed youth to create their own jobs as government is not the panacea to their unemployment woes.

Geingob last week told unemployed graduates to use their qualifications to innovate and create jobs as opposed to waiting for the government to do so.

He told them that government is not God.

His remarks have been met with consternation by various quarters of the populace, and the LPM youth wing is not an exception.

Duminga Ndala, who heads the youth wing, said here on Tuesday during an interview that Geingob was rather insensitive and pompous, adding that it showed how out of touch the Head of State is to the reality that confronts unemployed Namibians in general, and graduates in particular.

According to Ndala, the president must be “called to order”.

‘The president was very arrogant in his response. He called 200 unemployed youth to State House to engage on how they would solve the high unemployment rate, but what he instead did was to shun the youth,’ a clearly agitated Ndala asserted.

Ndala who, however, agrees with Geingob that government is not the panacea to the unemployment levels which have reached crisis proportions, said the responsibility to create a conducive environment to accommodate youthful ideas and financing thereof rests on the shoulders of the government.

“Government is there to create an enabling and conducive environment so that employment is created. But in our view, we thought it an arrogant response as we are currently in a crisis. About 250 000 youth are unemployed, which includes unemployed graduates,” she said.

Youth unemployment is projected to reach a staggering 50 per cent at the end of this year, according to the United Nations Population Fund.

“As a sitting president, one that is at the seat of power, you [Geingob] cannot make such arrogant statements. There is youth under the current economic status who will never be employed,” she continued.

Ndala questioned the role of Geingob’s advisors, task forces and the ministry of employment creation if they are failing to come up with solutions confronting the masses.

The 23-year-old activist added that it is high time for synergy to be brought to the centre of the government’s planning and policies.

“Our policies are not coordinated. There are many contradictions. That ministry [labour, industrialisation and employment creation] also does not know what its role is. It concentrates more on providing unemployment statistics rather than creating actual employment,” she said.

She went on to say, “Let us use the agricultural sector so that we can employ a lot of young people, even at a lower wage.”

Source: The Namibian Press Agency