RUNDU - The Swapo Party Youth League (SPYL) in the Kavango Region has urged government to stop hiring foreign consultants for domestic issues at the expense of locals.

This was one of the proposals that emeged during the SPYL regional conference two weeks ago.
Newly-elected SPYL Regional Mobiliser, Paulus Mbangu, told New Era that foreigners come here with agendas that are of interest to themselves only and not for the benefit of Namibians.

“Africa can never be developed by foreigners, because these people come here placing their interests first. We cannot entirely depend on foreigners alone,” he said.

Mbangu further charged that the issue of hiring foreign nationals at the expense of locals somehow shows a lack of trust in locals.
“If locals can do the work, then they must be employed. Only when they are not capable or when they fail can we rope in foreigners to assist us,” he said.

The youth organization also wants green scheme policies to be reviewed urgently to increase the ownership and participation of local communities.
The SPYL is also calling for the decentralisation of the Targeted Intervention Programme for Employment and Economic Growth (TIPEEG).

“TIPEEG must be decentralised and the green scheme programme expanded to accommodate more youth,” proposed the youth wing in the Kavango Region.

At the conference, the SPYL also vowed to uphold the ruling party’s directive not to discuss the issue of the top four and the leadership succession, distancing themselves from a recent report that appeared in a local daily.

According to the media statement released by the youth wing in the Kavango Region, the Namibian Sun newspaper reported that the Kavango Regional Conference has hammered out plans to table a motion at the youth league’s congress in August, in which it will lobby the Swapo Party to maintain its top four leaders.

“The story is a complete lie and distortion of the facts only known to the editor of the newspaper and his clueless informer,” read part of the statement.