PRESIDENT Hakainde Hichilema has prodded the youth to stay away from social vices and take charge of the change they want to witness in the country for the sake of posterity.
Addressing a youth Indaba Conference in Lusaka ahead of the Youth Day which falls tomorrow, President Hichilema said that investing in the youth, meant investing in the country because it was difficult to teach an “old horse, new tricks”.
Mr Hichilema urged the youths to refrain from illicit sexual behaviour, alcohol, drug and social media abuse.
President Hichilema said youths should also desist from lawless activities such as destroying public property.
“Be the agents of law and order. Do not allow anyone to make you damage property that belongs to someone else. Young ones are the ones who should take charge of change in the country,” he said.
He said that there was no time to waste and the Government wanted the youth to know that they were the future of the country and that was the reason empowerment programmes were being rolled on by the Government.
He said the large population in the country comprised the youth, and the measures the Government was putting in place were for their own good, such as the restoration of meal allowa for students at universities, becau there was no way they could atte lessons while hungry.
President Hichilema said the Government knew that not every youth was in university, hence introducing a skills development com- ponent in the Constitu- ency Development Fund (CDF) in order to reach everyone.
“We know that youth are differently talented, so if we have not reached you we are coming for you,” he said.
He said the school Curriculum should also change with technology, because one could not learn what they were not good at.
He said this year’s Youth Day theme “Transforming minds for accelerating youth development’ could not be more befitting be- cause the mind was important.
“Legs follow where the brain decides,” he said.
He urged the youth attending the confer- ence to discuss with one another because the human brain was a social machine which interacted and understood its position at any given time.
He said the youth needed to collaborate because that was how they could work together.
He said the theme spoke well because mis- takes of the past could only be corrected through the youth.
He said he was happy that youth could meet in one place without pushing one another or someone removing something undesirable when 20 months ago it was impossible
“Just 20 months ago, you could not do such a thing without trouble. This environment is a sign of good things coming,” he said.
He also thanked women for coming out in number to celebrate the International Women’s Day which fell on Wednesday.
