Independent Bizirema vows to tackle youth unemployment

Venuste Bizirema, one of the four independent candidates in the ongoing parliamentary campaigns, says his main area of focus, when elected, is to curb or significantly reduce unemployment levels among the youth.In an interview with this paper, yesterday, the 29-year old candidate said there is still a vacuum in how youth are empowered to get jobs. “Our education system needs to be streamlined in a way that students would learn in school what is relevant to their careers. Currently we have many university students pursuing degrees in management but Rwanda doesn’t need millions of managers, Rwandan needs people with hands-on skills,” he said. Bizirema holds a diploma in civil aviation from Goma DR Congo and was pursuing a degree but had to suspend his studies because of insecurity in war-torn country.“I honestly believe the current government has delivered well but there are key areas that need more attention. We have a crisis of medical practitioners in our country, and one of the ways to solve that is reinstating the nursing lesson in the high school curricula. I don’t know of any nurse who has failed to get a job,” Bizirema said. Retirement ageHe also proposed that the retirement age should be lowered from 62 to 57 years so that youth can get a chance to fill vacuum left by retiring labour force. Asked about his chances of getting the required 5 per cent for a parliamentary seat, Bizirema said he has distributed 100,000 flyers in strategic parts of the country. “A good striker is not the one who runs about the entire pitch; a good striker is the one who makes sure he is strategically positioned to score. My political programme appeals to the youth and I have belief they will vote for me,” he said. For an independent candidate to secure a seat in Parliament, they should have at least 5 per cent (about 300,000 votes of the national electorate as do political parties. Bizirema said he has a campaign team of 20 people that he deploys in various parts of the country to sway the electorate in his favour.

National

Independent Bizirema vows to tackle youth unemployment