[www.inewsguyana.com] – The Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport has made it clear that the recently formed Guyana National Youth Council is “self -appointed” and does not represent a wide cross – section of the nation’s youth.
“By referring to themselves as the National Youth Council this self – appointed group is deliberately trying to create the impression that they are a broad base representative body. But they are not.”
According to the statement, the Body does not represent the majority but rather “they represent themselves, are not democratically elected but rather self – appointed, have no formal constitution nor basic requirements for a properly constituted group.”
The Ministry noted that critical elements as these are key criteria for formal registration of a youth group with the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport.
“It is because of these deficiencies that they were unable to get formal registration with the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport.”
iNews understands that under the Ministry’s Youth Policy, there is already a National Youth Council which is registered.
“It is therefore a concern and is somewhat surprising that organisations such as the USAID, through its LEAD Project and CUSO which holds good governance at its fulcrum for accountability and transparency and good organisational management would seek to endorse this group without due diligence.”
According to the statement, the Ministry finds this position contradictory and ponders the objectives of the agencies.
“We will urge all concern to be more vigilant with their interactions with this organization. We are happy that GECOM will like to encourage more first time voters to participate in the elections. We think that this is a laudable initiative. We hope that GECOM will soon unveil a program of how it will engage first time voters and not delegate it to a third party. However if GECOM will like to engage youth stakeholders in the process, then they must do so in an open and transparent manner and not give preference to a particular organization. In this context we hope that GECOM will not confine itself to this self – appointed “National Youth Council” but will engage with the more established youth organizations.”
The Ministry noted that the group is made up of seven young persons:
- Tiffany Daniels- Peace Corps
- Jamal Goodluck – One Laptop per Family Program.
- Adrian Alfred –
- Tricia Teekah – Mexico Embassy
- Francis Bailey – Graphic Designer
- Michael Xavier – Law Student (T & T)
- Andrea Bryan-Garner – Youth Media Guyana
