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By Lucas Liganga, The Citizen Chief Reporter
Dodoma. Members of Parliament yesterday urged the government to stop playing politics when addressing challenges facing the youth, including boycotts in institutions of higher learning. They were debating a resolution to ratify the African Youth Charter presented in Parliament for ratification by the minister for Information, Youth, Culture and Sports, Dr Emmanuel Nchimbi. They told the debating chamber that the government’s position was that protests by the youth pressing for their demands, including education loans, were being engineered by opposition political parties. Addressing the august assembly, the MP for Kawe, Ms Halima Mdee (Chadema), said students in higher learning institutions were being expelled for demanding their rights. “But most of these are expelled by authorities because they are considered to be associated with opposition political parties,” said the young female lawmaker. Ms Mdee advised the government to stop blaming opposition parties when dealing with problems facing the youth. It should instead address their problems seriously lest it finds itself in a grave situation, she warned. She was speaking against the backdrop of many students being expelled from public higher learning institutions, including the University of Dar es Salaam and the University of Dodoma. The Kawe legislator advised the government to learn from riots engineered by desperate youth who toppled some Arab governments, including Egypt and Tunisia.
Her observations were echoed by Mr David Sillinde (Mbozi West-Chadema), who said the youth were now pressing for their rights because of the awareness sweeping across the world.
“They have nothing to do with political parties. And, come 2015 General Election, most of them will vie for political posts,” said the youthful MP.
Mr Sillinde said the process to get higher education loans had cumbersome procedures that kept out students from rural areas, thus creating classes among people.
The Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) legislator for Tarime, Mr Nyambari Nyangwine, warned the youth against being used by politicians.
Said he: “The youth should not allow themselves to be used by politicians like condoms. They should be independent.”
Mr Joseph Mbilinyi (Mbeya Urban-Chadema), speaking on behalf of the opposition camp in Parliament, hailed the government for presenting the African Youth Charter in the House for ratification.
He said, if implemented to the letter, it would help in solving many problems facing the country’s youth.
He asked the government to come up with a special programme to solve unemployment among the youth, likening the situation to a ticking time bomb.
He said most of the youth were rendered jobless after most privatised factories became idle.
For his part, Mr Felix Mkosamali (Muhambwe-NCCR-Mageuzi) told the House session, chaired by Mr George Simbachawene (Kibakwe-CCM), that education loans were only given to children from wealthy families.
Another MP, Ms Esther Bulaya (Special Seats-CCM) said the only asset that should save the youth from the misery they were currently facing was land.
However, she said there was not a single hectare of land allocated to the youth, suggesting: “The youth should be allowed to own land.”
Otherwise, said Ms Bulaya, most of them will end up frustrated like in many other African countries. She added that subsequently they would engage in confrontation with their governments.
The chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on Community Development, Ms Jenista Mhagama, proposed that when implementing the African Youth Charter the government should do away with clauses that denied girls the right to education.
She gave as an example a clause that discontinued pregnant girl pupils and students from continuing with studies.
“The government should review such clauses,” suggested Ms Mhagama (Peramiho-CCM), adding that by using the youth the government could achieve an impressive economic growth.
Presenting the resolution in the House earlier, Dr Nchimbi said the African Youth Charter aimed at enabling the youth having the right to participate in all spheres of the society.
He told the parliament that the Charter also guaranteed participation of the youth in parliament and other decision-making bodies in accordance with prescribed laws.
The Charter also ensured equal access for young men and women to participate in decision-making and fulfilling civic duties.
Further it gives priorities to policies and programmes. These include youth advocacy and peer to peer programmes for marginalised youth so as to offer them an opportunity and motivation to re-integrate into the mainstream society.
The House was expected to ratify the Charter last night.
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