The Hon. Sunil Kumara Gamage - Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, the Hon. Member raised three questions regarding the establishment of youth organizations under the National Youth Services Council (NYSC).

¶ 02 Under Section 4 of the National Youth Services Act No. 69 of 1979, 14 main objectives are set out to promote the full development and interests of the youth of Sri Lanka. Establishing youth organizations and enabling their activities for youth welfare fall within those objectives. Accordingly, under the NYSC we have largely been reorganizing youth organizations and establishing new ones where there were none. The mandate, authority and responsibility for reorganizing and establishing youth organizations lie with our Ministry and the NYSC. Therefore, intervention by the Minister or the Chairman of the NYSC is necessary, as that responsibility rests with the Ministry. Such intervention does not amount to politicization; it is required for the task at hand.

¶ 03 Responses to the specific questions are as follows:

¶ 04 1. The NYSC annually establishes and reorganizes youth societies under different themes. This year we are establishing Youth Societies under the brand “Connect 2025 Youth Clubs.” With time, programmes lose appeal, so we have rebranded to attract youth. This does not mean there is any political agenda. We use only the Youth Clubs emblem for this purpose and do not use any other organization’s symbols. Specifically, we have not used the emblem of the Socialist Youth Union or any other youth organization.

¶ 05 2. The officers presently in service are not all recruits of the present Government. They include officers and employees recruited under previous governments. It is neither logical nor possible to turn them into “our” people overnight. Even if some personally support the Government, that does not constitute politicization. We do not accept that officers are politicized or are engaging in political activities during service. Their duty is to establish youth clubs, and facilitating that within their working hours is part of their official responsibilities, not politicization.

¶ 06 3. We have not exerted any political influence. Our intention is to establish youth clubs in all 14,022 Grama Niladhari Divisions. We have already established about 11,000 clubs by bringing together youth in each GN Division. We have not screened by political party. We engage the youth living in the respective areas to form these clubs. We do not divide by party, religion or ethnicity—the only criterion is “youth.” Therefore, we carry out this work impartially.

¶ 07 We establish youth clubs responsibly, with the objective of building a better tomorrow and a new society, preparing youth to take the country in a new direction. We have no narrow political objectives in this.

¶ 08 Thank you.