Government asked to reopen MYP bases
There are renewed calls for government to revamp former Malawi Young Pioneers (MYP) bases across the country so that they are utilised to the benefit of young people.
With a majority of young people wallowing in poverty due to unemployment, there seemingly is a huge demand for state-run youth empowerment programmes.
It is against such a background that District Manager for Youth Network and Counselling (Yoneco) in Nkhata Bay, Dunreck Pande, called for the bases to be put to proper use.
“We have not moved an inch in implementing interventions to uplift the lives of young people. We are very good at drafting documents and yet very poor in putting the same things into practice,” Pande said.
He spoke in Nkhata Bay on Monday in an interview ahead of the commemoration of the International Youth Day which falls on August 29.
Established in 1963 under the National Youth Service Programme, MYP had over 24 centres in all districts where apart from military training, young people were placed at the centre of national development agenda through training in agriculture and other vocational skills.
Pande also added his voice in faulting government for targeting wrong beneficiaries in the multi-million Farm Input Subsidy Programme (Fisp).
Just like many other critics of the programme, he said the initiative could be meaningful if it targeted young people who are still energetic for any kind of production.
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