With $60M more, President’s Youth Advisory Council now expected by April

With work beginning in 2020 by Dr. Irfaan Ali soon after he was elected as President, the Youth Advisory Council is expected to be fully functional by the end of April this year.

Some $60 million has been allocated in the 2022 national budget to ensure this happens, Minister of Governance and Parliamentary Affairs Gail Teixeira clarified during the consideration of budget estimates on Monday.

In 2020, some $25 million was allocated while an additional $60M was budgeted in the 2021 National Budget.

To date, a total of $145 million has been allocated with promises that the Council should have been fully established last year.

In March of 2021, a secretariat was established already within the Office of the President with the $60 million to help fund the recruitment of a Youth Empowerment Coordinator and representatives from each of the 10 Administrative Regions.

Teixeira said a Technical Coordinating Committee has completed the terms of reference for the Council.

The President is expected to meet with the youth arm of the various political parties to have their membership participate in the council.

President Ali had said that the Council will reflect Guyana’s “rich religious and ethnic diversity.”

During a speech at his inauguration ceremony as Guyana’s ninth Executive President, Dr Ali said, “That is why I have appointed many young persons into my Cabinet. We will chart the future, and they will have a strong hand in the future we chart.”

The Youth Advisory Council initiative is a PPP/C Manifesto promise to allow young people the opportunity to help shape their future.