NEWLY sworn parliamentarian for the Opposition People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), Charles Ramson Jr, has come out to blaze the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) coalition Government for what he calls the side-lining of youth after the party won the May 11 election. Ramson, a young lawyer and son of former Attorney General Charles Ramson Sr, in his debut address to the National Assembly yesterday, said the now Government “rode the wave of youth to the seat of power”, but he questioned their actions toward youth in the coalition Government’s Cabinet and the budget currently being debated in the National Assembly.

Ramson challenged the decision of the David Granger Administration to absorb what was formerly the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport into what is now the Ministry of Education with a Department of Culture, Youth and Sport.
The Ministries of Education, and Culture, Youth, and Sport were treated separately, but have now been merged into one with Education Minister Dr Rupert Roopnaraine at the helm.
“First the APNU+AFC Government relegated and demoted the Ministry of Youth into a subsumed, subordinate positon and a programme of the Ministry of Education,” Ramson said, adding that his party believes there should be a Youth Minister and that young people “should occupy the seats of power in all spheres of the state.”
“The absence of youth representation from the coalition Government MPs and the Cabinet is unconstitutional,” Ramson said before the House as the Government side erupted in laughter. “You laugh at the youth but the next election, the youth will be laughing at you because they will be saying good-bye and good riddance,” Ramson charged.
Ramson believes the budget should have been guided by and focused on youth. He went on to cite Article 28 of the Constitution which speaks to the right of young people to “responsible participation” in Guyana’s development. “Leaving us out of Government and Cabinet does exactly the opposite.”
The young MP went on to challenge the idea of a draft youth policy mentioned vaguely in Finance Minister Winston Jordan’s budget speech recently. “We deserve more than two measly paragraphs in your budget presentation, and more than just platitudinal statements about a draft youth policy.”
Citing allocations in the 2015 budget, Ramson said only some $100M had been allocated for youth, compared to the then PPP/C Government in 2014 which budgeted $535M for current expenditure and $961M for capital expenditure.
Ramson’s remarks did not sit well with Minister within the Ministry of Public Health, Dr. Karen Cummings. Dr Cummings, who spoke directly after Ramson, challenged that in 23 years of Government, there was an increase in youth unemployment by some 40 percent under the former PPP/C.
Cummings was challenged to produce the report where the information could be found. She cited the presentation of the Finance Minister.
A study from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) titled “Youth are our future: The Imperative of Youth Employment for Sustainable Development” placed Guyana’s youth unemployment as hovering around the 40 percent mark.
Cummings went on to challenge the lack of the former PPP/C Government to implement a national youth policy, and she said a draft of such a policy was done in less than 100 days of the APNU+AFC Government.
Former Culture, Youth and Sport Minister under the PPP/C Government, Dr Frank Anthony, attempted to challenge Cummings on the floor but was barred by the Speaker for not having grounds for interrupting Dr Cummings’ presentation.
Another PPP MP, Vishwa Mahadeo, speaking during his debut address to the National Assembly, corrected Dr Cummings that the country’s first youth policy was completed in 1993, and that the youth policy now referred to in Cumming’s address was commenced under the PPP/C Administration.
The APNU+AFC coalition Government has taken criticism for the lack of youth representation in their list of representatives for the 11th Parliament. The only youth in the 33 seats of the APNU+AFC is Member of Parliament Jermaine Figueira.
Notables youth MPs from the 10th Parliament between 2011 to 2015 like Vanessa Kissoon, Christopher Jones, and James Bond from the APNU, as well as Trevor Williams from the AFC were not given place in the 11th Parliament.

(Derwayne Wills )