By Loice Dube

Zimbabwean youths have cried foul over their exclusion from President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s recently appointed Presidential Advisory Council that will serve as the President’s sounding board on key economic reforms and initiatives in line with the Zimbabwe is open for business mantra.

National Association of Youths Organisation (NAYO) Executive Director Misheck Gondo bemoaned the continuity marginalisation of youths in national decision making processes and key government key positions.

“Actually it has been a trend in our country that young people are not involved in every sector of decision making. They come as the last thought and you find out even if you look at the council does not include the young people because they are perceived as they cannot bring anything on the table, but if you find out that these are the same young people that they want to find solution for. So how best can you find solutions for them without themselves being involved”

“We need an inclusive process of finding a solution then that structure or solution can bring ideas. We need people that push the agenda of Zimbabwe” he added.

The Constitution of Zimbabwe in Section 20 (1) states “that all institutions and agencies of government at every level must take reasonable measure including affirmative action groups to ensure that youths that is to say people between the ages of fifteen and thirty-five years and Section 20 (b) highlights that youths have opportunities to associate and to be represented and participate in to political, social, economic and other spheres of life”.

Presidential Advisory Council comprises of 26 members from various areas of expertise such as industry, health, agriculture, tourism among others.