Youths from all political parties in the country have come
together to form one organization in bid to combat political
violence and positively contribute to the governance agenda
of the country.
Jones Mulunga who is the executive director of the newly
formed Centre for Young Leaders in Africa (CYLA) said the
organisation is meant change the mindset of youth
politicians in the country.
Mr Mulunga a Councilor from UPND in Mumbwa said the
older generation politicians will continue to use youths in
divisive purposes if they are not prepared to be leaders.
He said the organization will bring together youths from all
parties so that they can speak as one voice as the challenges
faced by youths in country are similar regardless of which
political party one belongs to.
Mr Mulunga said youths from different political parties should be able
to sit down and discuss national issues as opposed to
fighting each other.
He said youths are a national asset who should be used to
better the country and not used to perpetrate evil activities
such as political violence.
And communication director for the organization Gerald
Chiluba said the time to fight electoral violence was now as
opposed to fighting it during election time.
Mr Chiluba who is the MMD Die Hard Youths Coordinator
said CYLA wants to rebrand the Zambian youth so that his
participation in the political dispensation of the country is
centred around issues as opposed to being used as tools of
violence by older politicians.
He said youths should differ on principle and ideas and not
fight each other due to their association with different
political parties.
Mr Chiluba said it was high time youths in political parties started to
address critical issues such as youth unemployment and
present the challenges as a united front.
He said the development of the country is not the
responsibility of those in power but that it is every well
meaning Zambian’s task.
Mr Chiluba further explained that the organisation was not only
restricted to political parties but that any youth was free to
join as the organisation’s agenda was to create an
environment that allows young people to participate in
politics.
Mr Chiluba also attributed the high cases of political
violence to lack of inter-party interaction amongst the
youths from different political parties hence the formation
of CYLA which will promote the said interaction.
The new organisation has youths from UPND, MMD, FDD,
ADD, PF, NAREP Green Party, Rainbow and UNIP.
The duo said this when the featured on Joy FM live interactive program on Sunday.
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