A former member of the defunct National Youth Council (NYC) has criticised government senator Shackell Bobb over her statement that the organisation was a failure.
The former member, who asked for anonymity to focus attention on their views rather than their current position, questioned the motivation behind the Prime Ministerial Advisory Council on Youth.
“An advisory council of over 300 people?” the former NYC member told iWitness News, adding that advisory councils are generally small groups of people.
“How many of them get a stipend each month?” the former NYC member said.
The former NYC member noted that under the former New Democratic Party (NDP) administration, the National Youth Commission was the advisory body to the government on youth matters.
They said that Education Minister, West St. George MP, Curtis King, a former NYC president, was on the youth commission when the NDP was in office.
“These guys are ridiculous,” the former NYC member told iWitness News of the ULP administration, noting that the advisory council was to the prime minister and not even the minister of youth.
On Wednesday, Bobb, who is involved in the Prime Ministerial Advisory Council on Youth, described the NYC as having “proven to be unsuccessful time and time again”.
However, the former member who spoke to iWitness News, pointed out that NYC helped to mould many of the nation’s leaders today, including some current parliamentarians.
Some former members of the NYC have accused the ruling Unity Labour Party (ULP) of systematically defanging the NYC and many other civil society organisations after coming to office in March 2001.
Among the other current parliamentarians who are former members of the NYC are opposition senator Israel Bruce, a former NYC president, Minister of Foreign Affairs Frederick Stephenson and Health Minister Jimmy Prince, both of whom held prominent positions in the organisation.
During the Budget Debate, Bobb praised the 1-year-old Prime Ministerial Advisory Council on Youth.
“They’re at 330 hardworking, talented, independent and intelligent young people who are committed to developing St. Vincent and the Grenadines,” the senator, who is a parliamentary secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister, said on Wednesday.
She noted that the Prime Ministerial Advisory Council on Youth has 18 chairpersons who have oversight of 18 different sectors.
“And over the past year, each sector [has] developed their own objectives, specific to that sector, and have created their own work plans,” Bobb said.
“So, this is not a dilly dally, fly-by-night something that we came up with, and we just running around and doing whatever. It is carefully articulated, and we have planned our activities, all of our consultations way in advance, so that when we go out, we look like a uniform council.”
She said that because the council is advisory, “the type of activities that we put on would be activities that would help us to facilitate, again, enough insight from young people across St. Vincent and the Grenadines”.
Bobb noted that the EC$1.85 billion budget allocates $250,000 to the Prime Ministerial Advisory Council on Youth.
“And this is due to the tremendous work that has been done last year and which we intend to do this year.”
She spoke of the national awards that the council held this month.
“I’ve heard countless times in this Parliament that there have been questions on a National Youth Council,” Bobb said.
“And from what I’ve heard, the National Youth Council have proven to be unsuccessful time and time again. And if you have an exceptional council, such as the Prime Ministerial Advisory Council on Youth, why then dwell on a National Youth Council which has proven to be unsuccessful? Why live in the past?” Bobb told Parliament.
The former NYC member told iWitness News that they were also disappointed that former prominent members of the NYC sat in Parliament and did not object to Bobb’s comments about the council.
massa bin say ar yo go way fo study and ar yo come back more dotish, is dis an example of massa saying.?
What is my friend “Bing” saying about that on the radio?