Parliamentarian Hesha Withanage has been elected as the Chairman of the Parliamentary Caucus for Youth of the ninth Parliament.
MP Withanage was proposed as the Chairman by MP Buddhika Pathirana and seconded by MPs Weerasumana Weerasinghe and SM Marikkar.
MP Manjula Dissanayake, MP Premnath C Dolawatta and MP Weerasumana Weerasinghe were elected as Deputy Chairpersons.
MP Withanage, the new president of the Caucus said the caucus expects to intervene actively in future to meet the expectations and issues faced by the youth.
He said the Caucus is expected to propose a systematic programme to promote youth participation in the country’s policies and legislation.
While addressing the gathering, the members of the ruling and opposition parties said they should work in such a way as to build confidence among the youth.
MP also highlighted 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 highlighted the need to grant more opportunities to youth representation at Local Government bodies, Provincial Councils and at Parliamentary elections.
Attention was also paid to methods to involved youth contribution in the Parliamentary process by involving youth representatives in Parliament committees.
The Chairperson of the Caucus also requested all members to submit proposals related to future activities of the Caucus.
MPs of ruling and opposition parties emphasised the need to collectively work for the rights and needs of the youth through this Caucus, regardless of political parties.
