Poverty, unemployment levels to remain high if empowered youths still looked to other people for jobs | WestMac Media

By Staff Writer, Lusaka 

Youth in Action for Sustainable Development (YASD) programmes manager, Zebedy Lukwesa says poverty and unemployment levels will remain high as long as beneficiaries of the youth empowerment programme still looked to other people to provide them with employment to make ends meet. 

Mr Lukwesa says empowerment is the biggest equalizer to national development. 

He said in some cases beneficiaries of empowerment programmes do not put the monies they receive to good use but expect government to continue helping them with entrepreneurial advancement. 

Mr Lukwesa added that if the beneficiaries do not change their mind-set and use empowerment resources prudently to improve their lives through employment provision, the intention of such good initiatives will not be realized. 

He further urged youths to take advantage of empowerment initiative to better their lives. 

“We have always said that Government cannot employ all of us at a given time. As a matter of fact, there is no government in this world that will provide jobs to all its citizens but it is from such programmes that people maximise their full potential. 

“Time to change the mind-set that when one goes to school they must wait until they are employed is gone because employment opportunities will not cater for everyone,” Mr. Lukwesa added. 

He advised young people to be innovative and put to good use, all the monies they were getting from Government. 

Mr. Lukwesa said youths must not let Government down because it has done what no other regime had attained for them adding that the current Government has created a robust empowerment programme for everyone and the best we can do is to reciprocate this favour with sincerity in everything that we are doing. 

“If you are empowered through a revolving fund, it only makes sense that you return the monies at the right time so that your fellow youths can also benefit just like you have done other than defaulting because when you do so, you are derailing the programme and this makes it difficult for Government to achieve its objective,” he said.