Minister of Political and Parliamentary Affairs Mousa Maytah Saturday stressed the importance of participation in upcoming municipal and governorate council elections by youth, who are a majority in society with a real stake in the national development process.

He was addressing supervisors of youth centres and clubs in the Central Region at a seminar held with support by the project to bolster decentralisation and local government in the kingdom, which is funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

Maytah told the meeting, attended by youth minister Haditha Al Khreishah, that the launch of awareness workshops, entitled Decentralisation and Societal Participation, had a developmental goal to achieve balance in the development of the Kingdom’s governorates, in addition to the democratic objective of increasing popular participation in the decision making process in the local communities.

He said the ministry of political and parliamentary affairs had put in place an awareness plan including 194 youth centres, reiterating His Majesty King Abdullah’s emphasis that decentralisation is a reform enterprise focused on youth and development, and noting the role of youth in countering extremism and supporting the rule of law.

The minister urged youth centres to put the emphasis on summer youth camps to offer data and awareness about the decentralisation scheme.

Khreishah said summer camps are the youth ministry’s “main arm and incubator” for youth action, adding that it will in the next days launch campaigns to urge youth to engage in the mid-August polls, under the motto “participate, your decisions are your future”.