Unemployed graduates want to fill ‘ghost’ positions

WINDHOEK, 21 JUL – A group unemployed graduates have called on the government to place them in positions of “ghost” and deceased employees in order to curb the rate of unemployment.
The group of close to 200 unemployed graduates took to the streets of Windhoek on Friday morning, marching to Zoo Park where they read and handed over their petition addressed to the prime minister.
In their petition read by Johannes Kondjeleni, the students demanded that all posts that are not filled, with immediate effect be filled by graduates that are sitting at home.
“A placement process should commence immediately in order for us to assist government in its current situation. It is key that new brains and energy is injected into the system to defeat the status quo as many of us have done internships and apprenticeships that prepared us for the job market.”
They noted that the state has also over the past few years introduced a deliberate intervention to freeze all government posts, knowing that it is the biggest employer, leaving the dreams of graduates shattered.
“The honest view of reality is that over the past years many government employees passed on, resigned and retired; this simply implies that there are secretive employment happening within the government departments.”
They said this is a genuine reminder to the leaders of the country of the promises they have made over the years as evidenced in Vision 2030, the national development plans and the Harambee Prosperity Plan.
The youth stressed that no student will be confident to enter tertiary education when the job market and entrepreneurial opportunities are not favourable to graduates.
“How do we motivate our younger generation to study and attain qualifications when there are no jobs and entrepreneurial opportunity?”
Namibia currently has an estimated figure of about 67 000 unemployed graduates and according to the protesters, “the government has no programme in place on how to address this frightening reality”.
The group of unemployed graduates have given the government a period of five working days to respond to their petition and come up with plausible solutions.
The petition was received by Director of Inter-Government Coordination in the Office of the Prime Minister, Mateus Kaholongo.
(NAMPA)