“THE National Youth Council is ‘self-appointed’ and does not represent the wide cross-section of the nation’s youth,” according to the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport. The Ministry, in a press statement, has noted the recent statements and actions of a group that refers to itself as “National Youth Council”. It is the ministry’s understanding that this group is made up of seven young persons bearing the names Tiffany Daniels – Peace Corps; Jamal Goodluck, One Laptop per Family Programme; Adrian Alfred; Tricia Teekah – Mexico Embassy;   Francis Bailey  – Graphic Designer; Michael Xavier – Law Student (T & T) and Andrea Bryan-Garner – Youth Media Guyana.

“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-based representative body. But they are not,” the Ministry stated.
The statement went on to explain that “this body does not represent the majority but rather they represent themselves, they are not democratically elected but rather self -appointed, have no formal constitution nor basic requirements for a properly constituted group.”
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.”
“It is therefore a concern and is somewhat surprising that organisations such as the USAID (United States Agency for International Development), through its LEAD (Leadership and Democracy) 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,” the statement read.
In fact the Ministry finds this position quite contradictory and ponders the objectives of these agencies in this particular case. “We will urge all concern to be more vigilant with their interactions with this organisation,” the Ministry urges.
“We are happy that GECOM (Guyana Elections Commission) 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 programme 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 organisation,” the Ministry stressed.
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 organisations,” the release added.