“Our health is our wealth, not uprising of oil and gas” – Youth Parliamentarian

As debates got underway at Public Buildings on the first sitting of the fifth annual Youth Parliament on Wednesday, Devastie Ramdin, who is assuming the role as Public Health Minister, told the House that the nation’s health is the country’s greatest wealth and not the nascent oil and gas sector, as she pointed to the need for advanced healthcare systems.

Ramdin moved a motion to enhance efforts to curb substance abuse in schools. In doing so, she argued, “We can all attest the fact that Guyana has been outstanding in the academic track records. With [the] influx of substance abuse in schools, I am afraid in the next five years our spot of outstanding performers may come to a dreadful end.”
It was on this note that the young Parliamentarian pointed out, “If we are to enhance efforts to curb substance abuse in schools, we will preserve our pass rates. We really cannot turn a blind eye to the nightmare plaguing our youths and future leaders of tomorrow. The effort need to be enhanced to curb substance abuse in schools. After all, our health is our wealth…our health and not the uprising of oil and gas”.
In addition to substance abuse, the young parliamentarians also debated the proposed ban on single-use plastics, modernisation of the Copyright Law and Intellectual Property Legislation and discipline in schools.
Each of the 35 speakers was allotted seven minutes to present their arguments on the respective areas. At the end of the day’s proceedings, the judges tallied the scores of the participants before announcing the winning team, best Speaker of the National Assembly and best debater.
This year, over 70 young secondary school and University of Guyana (UG) students are getting the opportunity to experience the parliamentary setting.
Youth Parliament 2019 commenced on August 10 and is expected to wrap up on August 18.
Three students from each administrative region were selected to represent their region, but Region Four has four students representing it.
The nine-day event includes training sessions and is slated to see two days of heated debate. The students will be debating motions on topical matters, with the most important motion to be presented on oil and gas and how it can benefit Guyanese.
In excess of $5 million was spent for the event last year. However, even though the figure was not disclosed, this year’s event is expected to be much costlier.