RPF youth vow to create wealth

Youth leaders from the ruling party, Rwanda Patriotic Front, in Gasabo District, have pledged to rally fellow youth to be patriotic and innovative in order to create jobs as a way of consolidating and sustaining party achievements in the last 25 years.As the party prepares to celebrate its 25th anniversary on December 15, 2012, the youth feel if they are to have a share of the national cake, it was necessary to work for it.Speaking at a news conference at the National Youth Commission headquarters in Kigali, the commission’s Social Affairs Officer Chantal Uwamahoro pointed out that the party had offered Rwandans dignity, hope, focus and a choice to live and work hard.She said the party pioneers had set a good precedence to the youth and the only way to sustain the achievements is by promoting innovation to create jobs and preach patriotism. She said this can only be achieved by rallying the youth to form and join cooperatives and lobbying government to support innovative ideas from youth groups irrespective of party affiliation. Uwamahoro said by doing so, it would be easy to mobilise the youth and protect them against risky behaviour like drug abuse through vocational training and access to credit to create jobs. She added that the commission had initiated a drug addiction rehabilitation programme through peer counselling and is presently evaluating its achievements as it prepares for the silver jubilee.“Our elders have oriented us and party values are at our finger tips. We are working towards a healthy, positive attitude, and patriotic, productive and innovative youth,” she explained. The Chief Guest, Eugene Gisagara, who is the vice chair-person of RPF in Gasabo District, said the party had achieved a lot at all fronts.“We are present at all levels from the cell to the top party leadership. We use a bottoms-up approach. The top leadership just prioritises and sifts through ordinary people’s ideas and reflects them in its strategic plans while structures are established through elections.”