On June 16, we commemorate the Day of the African Child with the theme, “Accelerating protection, empowerment and equal opportunities for children in Africa by 2030.” This day established in honour of the courageous protests by thousand of school children in 1976, in Soweto, South Africa, who were demanding quality education and the right to learn in their own language.
At BCPYL we take this as an opportunity to inspire action towards addressing challenges faced by young people today. The BCPYL cherishes the values of participatory democracy, social justice, and access to services, comprehensive social welfare services, human rights and solidarity.
Our country is at the threshold of a new era, an era that beckons for a new kind of leadership; a leadership committed to transform the fortunes of this country; a leadership that will reinvent government to ensure it addresses challenges facing our society, especially the youth. Our young and not so young are roaming the streets, they are unemployed. In their desperation, some end up in the Ipelegeng programme, yet another failed government scheme.
Young people of this country are talented in extraordinary ways and only require a platform to showcase what they have to offer .Our upcoming sporting stars need quality facilities for them to reach the very top of the profession and eclipse the likes of Usain Bolt, our engineering students need to be taught how to invent great machines and must not only be limited to repair work. The truth however is that this BDP regime knows it is much easier to control a hungry man,they want to shatter the hopes of our youth and monopolise the resources of this country to themselves. As the BCPYL , we have observed the lavish spending of government especially in relation to the presidency, recently we learned that President Khama will have a massive retirement package which includes a 34 Million BWP mansion. This is an irrational and unnecessary expenditure.
Young people in Botswana are facing daunting challenges under the BPD regime among others of unemployment and under-employment, poverty, wealth and income inequality, unfriendly reproductive health system, lack of of access to land and housing and economic opportunities as well as lack of presentation in key decision making bodies. Our education system is in a state of crisis, students’ performance in public schools has been declining. The infrastructure in most schools is in a state of disrepair and shortage of books and teaching material is common. It is this destiny denying circumstances that our legislators need to stay up all night for in parliament.
Our country surely needs to be nursed to wealth with a heavy-dose turnaround strategy. As part of the solution the BCPYL promises that affirmative action shall be entrenched in the youth policy and a youth entrepreneurship development agency set up and employment tax incentive introduced for companies that employ youth under the age of 36. Over and above we seek to transform Botswana into a truly educated and informed nation by giving all its citizens quality education relevant to the real world of work, informed by contemporary research and leveraging on science and technology.
Thank You
Dimpho Phuma Mashaba
Publicity Secretary-BPCYL
76605995