Member of Parliament for Salima Central Constituency Gerald Kapiseni Phiri has asked Goverment through the Ministry of Local Government to consider constructing a Youth Centre in his Constituency.
Kapiseni said a lot of youth in his Constituency are just staying idle and they do not have anything to do as most of them are unemployed.
He argued that having a Youth Centre will see many of them benefiting through learning different skills.
“Yesterday I did ask the minister of Local Government probably how my people from Salima Central can benefit from the Youth Centres that are being constructed across the Country because my Constituency has a lot of youth that are just staying idle and they have no place where they can gather and share some information, learn new skills probably how I wish this youth Centre could come in time it is going to help youth who are not employed to have some skills, acquire some new skills vocational skills probably this centre will also be a hub for life skills training.
“So it is my request if the Minister could consider Salima Central which has a growing population of young people and more youth clubs but we do not have a noticable centre where young people can gather and learn new things. So it was my request and l’am believing Goverment through the Minister of Local Government is going to consider the request I made on behalf of the people of Salima Central,” said Phiri.
Phiri noted that there is an increase of unemployment among youths in his Constituency but also Salima is one district that has growing number of youth who drop out of school, and this means the Constituency has a good number of young people who have not attained quality education due to various reasons and these people are sidelined in development because there is no alternative for them to do.
“If we have this youth Centre around it is going to bring or attract some more initiatives, and this is going to help in many ways reduce the crime rate that is among the youth who are just idle, but also we should know that we are still living among the HIV and Aids pandemic and this makes a lot of young people prone to infections. Therefore by having a youth centre, it will be a learning point of many skills and knowledge,” said Phiri.
The Minister responsible told Phiri to go back and sit down with the Council in his district and the submit to the Ministry of Local Government through district development plan.
“I am going to engage the council as soon as possible to make sure that the construction of youth Centre is a priority,” said Phiri.
