POWER OF YOUTH IN POLITICS

It’s election time again !

The 17th of March is the date to decide who will be appointed to the third layer in mainstream politics in Sri Lanka.

‘Democracy’ will be the word you will hear often – sometimes even more often than ‘cricket’ – for the next two months.  Is it democracy when, in a nation where the majority of the population is below 40, a majority of people above 60 are voted into power?

While 55 is the general retirement age in Sri Lanka, politicians actually become eligible to start serious politics at that age. 

It is true that you need a certain maturity level to be in politics, buy why is it that people below 50 years are considered ‘kids’ in the political arena?

There are, I feel, two prevailing issues in this regard. One is the lack of youth leaders in Sri Lanka’s political system and the lack of authority shown by the youth to appoint candidates that they need to give power.

There is an encouraging rule to include 40% of youth candidates in any list of the upcoming local government election, but will that signal that 40% of members appointed will be young?

Nowadays, we have only a handful of young leaders in Sri Lanka – and most of them are only in the political arena because they belong to influential political families.

The country desperately needs some young leaders who personify energy, enthusiasm, morality and diligence.  I doubt whether there is any concern or clear cut plan within our two main political parties with regard to bringing young blood into politics.

The role of the youth in politics is, in fact, limited to pasting posters or being used as thugs. They are used as a vehicle for old guys to come into power, but there is no programme to develop well-rounded young leaders.

Recently, the Government appointed a set of senior ministers comprising old, mature politicians. If the Government needs to compensate seniors, why not also encourage juniors? Would it be a bad idea to appoint a set of ‘junior’ ministers as well?

It could be done under the supervision of the so-called mature politicians and the youth could therefore be trained to become prominent leaders who take Sri Lanka to the next level. This will be a great investment for the future and one could start with appointing a young leader as the youth minister!

The second issue is whether Sri Lankan youth are empowered to select the best candidates to vote.  Poor knowledge on political and economical issues and the lack of real motivation to vote has created a set of passive voters with no influencing power. They either don’t vote or take a bad decision when voting.

No one has paid serious attention to educating young voters on the importance of voting and their power to select the best for the country by using their franchise. It is important for the youth to realise that it is the policies of today that will affect their future, which makes it that much more imperative for the youth to have an opinion and then share and discuss it.

Remember, it serves no purpose for the young generation to merely sit back and complain and expect someone else to solve their problems. On 17 March, the youth will have a chance to take the bull by the horns and actually do something constructive on behalf of their future instead!