Dear Editor,
Please refer to an article in Thursday, January 14 edition of Guyana Times entitled ‘National Youth Policy yet to be implemented’ in which Charles Ramson Jr stated in referring to the National Youth Policy that “you have Norton being paid $500,000 a month who is specifically designated to do this; you have a minister, but both of them are unable to come up with the national youth policy.”
Were Mr Ramson Jr a serious young politician who paid attention to current affairs, he would have noted that the media houses, including the Guyana Times and the Guyanese public were informed that the Draft National Youth Policy had been completed and therefore, he would not have arrived at the erroneous conclusion that they were “unable to come up with the national youth policy”.
Mr Ramson Jr and the Guyana Times, seem not to understand governmental procedures. I had the responsibility to draft the National Youth Policy. This was completed and submitted to the subject minister. It is therefore not within my jurisdiction to make pronouncements on the status of the policy while it engages the attention of the Minister. It is for this reason that I directed the journalist to the subject minister.
It is hilarious but understandable that Mr Ramson Jr noted that the PPP completed 90% of the policy. This claim apart, he is probably too young to know that the PPP had been promising a youth policy since I was a Member of Parliament in 1998.
Therefore, what moral right does Mr Ramson Jr and the PPP have to speak about the completion of a youth policy? It took his party eighteen years from the 1998 promise and they still did not, and could not complete a youth policy, because they lacked the political will and interest in the development of the youth of Guyana.
Yours faithfully,
Aubrey C Norton
Presidential Advisor on Youth
Empowerment
