Kasungu youths take on council

Youths in Kasungu want Kasungu District Council to take action on lack of participation and involvement of young people in local government structures.

The youths said this on Tuesday in Kasungu during a council meeting.

Development Resource for Action Mentorship (Dream) executive director Braxton Banda said there cannot be progress in terms of development and social economic empowerment in the district when the views of the youth, who are in majority, are not heard.

“We have noted that area development committees [ADCs] and village development committees [VDCs] are operating without the involvement of young people. We feel that if these people are not participating, the majority are being left out in the decision-making processes,” said Banda.

He said some of the  people who claim to represent the youths in ADCs and VDCs are just picked and most of them are not conversant with issues affecting youths since they are not from any youth network.

Kasungu district council director of administration  Erick Nema acknowledged the  problem. He assured the youths that they will now be involved in decision-making processes.

Dream is implementing a project called Youth Empowerment for Participation in Local Governance Structures in Malawi, with support from

Malawi Human Rights Youth Network (MHRYN). n