The Member of Parliament for Wa Central, Rasheed Pelpuo is taunting government for “postponing” its responsibility to provide permanent jobs to the youth.
The former Minister of State in charge of Public Private Partnership (PPP) told 3FM’s Sunrise Wednesday that the Nation Builders Corp (NABCO) is akin to postponing the unemployment situation in the country.
Whilst government is touting the programme as a good move to provide skills to unemployed graduates, Rasheed Pelpuo claims NABCO is not sustainable and would not expose the youth to the kind of experience they would require for establishing themselves in a permanent institution.
“It is not sustainable and it is not the way to go,” he stated.
He added, “I cannot completely say this is not a good idea but government must admit that it is a failed attempt to get young people employed”.
Rasheed Pelpuo opined that one of the greatest initiative that any government can embark on is to stimulate the private sector in order for the unemployed to get jobs and create opportunities for others to work with them.
In that sense, there is independence in how people search for jobs and how people get engaged in jobs which would be of essence to the economy, he observed.
“The NPP manifesto made a promise to create value from whatever we have in this country and private sector would be the way forward. Other businesses can also come and invest and jobs would be available for the young persons. We are not told that they will take money from the consolidated fund, collect a group of young people and start paying them stipends,” he said.
The MP for Wa Central emphasized that it is about time young people made their voices heard. “The youth should not agree to be temporarily engaged. The youth must insist in being there permanently so that whatever skill they acquire would be put to use in a sustainable manner.”.