Member of Parliament Hon. Hesha Withanage was recently elected as the Chairman of the “Parliamentary Caucus for Youth” at the meeting held to establish a “Parliamentary Caucus for youth” for the ninth Parliament.
The name of Hon. Hesha Vithanage as the chairman was proposed by the Member of Parliament Hon. Buddhika Pathirana and seconded by Hon. Weerasumana Weerasinghe and Hon. S. M Marikkar.
Also, Hon. Manjula Dissanayake, Hon. Premnath C. Dolawatta and Hon. Weerasumana Weerasinghe were elected as Deputy Chairpersons.
Hon. Hesha Withanage, the new president of the Caucus, while addressing, said that the caucus expects to intervene actively in the future for the expectations and problems of the youth. He said that the Caucus is expected to propose a systematic program to promote youth participation in the country’s policies and legislation.
While addressing the gathering, the members of the ruling and opposition party said that they should work in such a way as to build confidence in the youth community. Members of Parliament pointed out the need to increase the youth representation in Parliament as well as to give more opportunity to the youth representatives in the political parties. They also emphasized the need to give more opportunity to the youth representation in the local government bodies, provincial councils as well as the Parliamentary elections. Attention was also paid to the methods of getting youth contribution to the Parliamentary process by involving the youth representatives in the committees of the Parliament.
The Chairperson of the Caucus also requested all members to submit suggestions and ideas related to the future activities of the Caucus.
MPs of ruling and opposition parties emphasized the need to collectively work for the rights and needs of the youth through this Caucus, regardless of political parties.
Several Members of Parliament and the Assistant Secretary General of Parliament Mr. Tikiri K Jayathilaka were also present on this occasion.
