The haphazard disbursement of the youth empowerment funds is a scandal that we all anticipated and confirms my assertion that politicians should never be allowed near the till.
So much money has been stolen and wasted doing the wrong things despite our continued warnings that a youth fund disbursed on a partisan basis would not achieve the intended objectives. The sad reality is that nobody wants to take responsibility for the mistakes. Remember companies were literally forced to contribute to the fund.
The new minister, Chris Mushowe, has shared with us what we already knew – that close to 92% of the loans dished are unlikely to be recovered. Surprise surprise!
Good ideas implemented badly, even when better solutions are available, have cost this country a lot. This is mainly because our politicians don’t like good advice. There is also a tendency by this government of wanting to be all things to all people.
If we really want to create an empowered and wealthy youth, it is not difficult at all. Up to now, youth empowerment has been a disaster. Our youths remain a means to a political end, to be unleashed for political battles and rewarded with scuds and then thrown back to the streets. That is not fair to them and it must change.
We have to come up with innovative ways of creating opportunities for our youth and not expect too much from government. We should change our approach, especially on the implementation of government policy, which requires specific expert skills that may not be found in government.
Government’s responsibility must be limited to being the facilitator of economic and social development and not the gate keeper or implementer. The model being promoted by the new minister is the correct way and I must congratulate and support him on that approach. I hope he is given the political space to do what he says he wants to do and I will certainly help him achieve his stated objectives if he asks.
We must establish youth business incubators where ideas are tested before we pour in funds. While in the incubator, youths who qualify must be trained and mentored on their business ideas. Only once pilot projects are done and there is proof of a concept, funding can be released.
More importantly, our youth must also take personal risk by contributing something. We need to banish this idea of free inputs and free money. There must always be personal risk and consequences for non-performance; that is how successful businesses are created.
The private sector can run this model very well and we also have numerous retired and experienced business people who can mentor and advise our youths. Organisations such as the CZI and the ZNCC can play a part here.
These business ideas must be in line with our national priorities and also be in the growth sectors -not hair salons for goodness sake!
One priority area is the revival of agriculture to create employment and ensure food security. We therefore need to correct the agriculture small-scale model. We can also do small-scale mining better while tourism, energy and information technology sectors present numerous opportunities. Our youth must be encouraged to explore opportunities in these sectors – but in an organised and scientific way.
We have to change the paradigm that small scale farmers are poor and must continually get free inputs and mainly grow tobacco. We must make farming an attractive career option for our youths, but they must learn the business principles of how to be successful farmers first, before they can access any funds or a piece of land. There are lots of empty and underutilised farms out there that we can subdivide and train youths in a controlled environment through a mentorship programme from experienced farmers to ensure success. This is what we are doing at African Farming Solutions.
The same applies to many other sectors where there is a poverty mentality and survivalist attitude and not an entrepreneurial approach to create long-term and sustainable personal wealth for our young ones and ultimately economic growth.
We have a unique opportunity to shift gear and this can be done through well managed youth projects with access to youth empowerment funds. The government should be encouraged to work with the private sector on this and I hope the new Minister will do things right.
– Vince Musewe is an economist and author based in Harare. You can contact him at vtmusewe@gmail.com
Post published in: News