South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"
By Simon Deng
The saying that disability is not inability, is what has driven Angeth Kenyi Maker,31, to throw his hat in the ring in the upcoming elections for the Chairperson of the South Sudan National Youth Union (SSNYU) to replace the outgoing Gola Boyoi Gola.
The father of two children, who hails from Tombek area of Terekeka County in Central Equatoria State, told The Dawn in an exclusive interview in Juba on Thursday, that he is not contesting for the position to earn wealth and prestige like other contesters, but he has feasible and realistic vision for the youth.
“I have already a program, manifesto and aspiration for the young people in South Sudan, in the manifesto we have a moto, we are going to unite young people to make them creative, innovative and prosperous in all aspects of life,” said Maker.
Maker said that youth are not united, adding that he has identified programs that will help unite young people and provide them with necessary support to build their livelihoods across the country.
“We are also envisioning a South Sudan where young people are not going to be defined according to their tribes, but they will be defined according to what they contribute to the country,” said Maker.
“We have identified challenges facing young people, among the challenges are issues of disunity, communal fighting, issues of unemployment, and issues of youth empowerment, climate change and we have also criminal gangs of young people,” he disclosed.
In addition, Maker noted that the high bride price among some communities are forcing young men to resort to cattle raiding in order to secure enough cows to marry.
He said that his leadership is looking forward to tackle these problems by partnering with the government and development partners to not only engage youth to denounce violence, but also startup businesses and also provision students’ scholarships to vulnerable youth.
“We will create initiatives, those initiatives will be having programs that will empower you like training initiative and we have also vocational training to the young people,” said Maker.
He promised that if elected he plans to lobby the government and development partners in the country and overseas, to provide grants that will support youth to startup innovative businesses and also equipping youth with technological knowledge and skills.
“We will also organize young people in cooperative societies that will be funded by government,” said Maker.
According to the population estimation survey released last year by the National Bureau of Statistics, youth make up 70 percent of the South Sudan population estimated at 12.4 million.
