Youth Act Finally Passes Into Law In the wake of massive unemployment in the youth community, the House of Representatives has enacted into law the Liberia Youth Act that seeks to empower thousands of young people from all walks of life. Recently, the House’s Plenary rejected the legislation because the nomenclature was Liberia Youth Policy, instead of a bill. Several lawmakers during the Tuesday’s session argued that the Legislature cannot pass a policy, but rather an Act. After heated argument, Legislators in the chamber agreed that the youth bill be properly scrutinized in committee room before passage. Following hours of deliberation on Thursday, September 05, 2013, the House’s Plenary finally endorsed a report submitted by the House’s Committees on Youth & Sports and Judiciary, headed by Representatives Lester Paye and Samuel Karmo. It can be recalled that the formulation of the Liberia Youth Act started December 2005, and was recently submitted by the Federation of Liberian Youth (FLY), through a petition to the House of Representatives Committee on Youth & Sports. Weeks after the submission of the petition and first reading on the House’s floor, the Mano River Youth Parliament (MRU) demanded that the legislation be rejected by the House due to the reported failure of FLY to consult all youth organizations in Liberia. But the Federation of Liberian Youth (FLY) refuted the allegations made by the MRU-Liberia charter. According to FLY’s president, Mohammed Nasser, MRU is not a member of the Federation, but a Sierra Leonean based organization that does not have Article of Incorporation. The FLY boss said MRU has refused to join the Federation after several appeals, but wants to be inclusive in a national youth document when the institution does not have a legal backing from Liberia. He argued that Liberia is the only nation that gives subsidy to MRU charter, adding that Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast and Guinea are not allocating funding in the National Budget for MRU. Mr. Nasser termed the claims made by the MRU as mere political propaganda intended to get favor from the Legislature. He said the bill when passed in its entirety and subsequently approved by the Liberian leader, government will be obligated legally to empower all young people irrespective of political affiliation, tribal, economic status, religion, among others. According to him, the bill welcomes capacity building for the youthful population to enable the country actualize it reconstruction drive. He added that job creation is one of the key components of the Liberia Youth Act. For his part, Representative Lester Paye said the Youth bill is aimed at empowering all youths to improve their living conditions. He stated that it is regrettable for young people who constitute vast majority of Liberia’s population to operate in the absence of a law. The Former Executive of the Young Men Christian Association (YMCA) said young people play a pivotal role to improve all sectors of the Liberian society.
Posted on: Thu, 05 Sep 2013 20:40:29 +0000
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