Uis youth no longer has an excuse to linger in shebeens – Deputy Minister
The Uis Multi-Purpose Community Youth Centre was inaugurated last week after taking more than six years to complete. Situated at the entrance to the town’s residential area, the centre comprises a gym, a conference hall, a storeroom, an administration office, two self-catering rooms, a computer laboratory, and netball and volleyball courts.
The N$4.3 million centre resorts under the National Planning Commission. It was constructed with funding under the Namibian German Special Initiative Programme.
The centre functions as a knowledge hub providing access to information to thousands of young people in Uis and the adjacent areas of the Erongo Region.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, the Deputy Minister of Economic Planning Hon Lucia Iipumbu said the centre has finally been completed, despite the many challenges and delays it faced.
“We know this was a long journey from 2011 to 2017. But at the end of the day we have achieved our goal, putting up a Multi-Purpose Community Youth Centre at Uis,” she said.
“It is well-known that the government is committed to the development of children and youth so that they can be employed and thereby develop. The centre will therefore cater for the needs of the youth in Uis,” she encouraging the youth and community of Uis to use the centre for their development in business and computer skills.
“It is up to the residents of Uis to make good use of the centre to advance themselves, Iipumbu said.
She also urged the youths to take full ownership of the centre and to guard it against vandalism and destruction of its facilities.
“Let it be our mutual responsibility to report such acts,” she cautioned.
Joram Kennedy !Haoseb, a Daures Councillor, Joram Kennedy !Haoseb said the opening of the multi-purpose centre gives hope for the future as the residents would directly or indirectly benefit from it.
!Haoseb encouraged the youth to take full advantage of the opportunities and information that the centre will provide and urged them to draw up a plan of action for implementation.
“There will be no excuses from today that /Uis is boring and therefore stay at shebeens,” he said. “The youth and elders should come together and plan what they envisage at the centre.”
The Head of Development Cooperation at the German Embassy, Christian Gruen, congratulated the community for making a wise choice to invest the available funds into a multi-purporse centre.
“I would therefore like to congratulate them for this choice because it will not only give them a place to meet, but a place of education as well. It is only when people receive sound education that they are able take control of their destiny and independently shape their own economic, social and political development, ” he said.
In the picture, Hon Lucia Iipumbu (centre) ceremoniously unlocks the front door of the Uis Multi-Purpose Community Youth Centre. She is joined by Councillor Joran Kennedy !Haoseb, Christian Grün of the German Embassy, and Natalia /Goagoses and Benitha Imbamba, both from the Erongo Regional Council.
