INHERITING THE FUTURE

Oct 27, 2013 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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Almost everyone is fond of saying that our children are our future. Yet there always seems to be a reluctance to place the future of this country into the hands of our young people.
We have too many young politicians infected with the old ways of thinking. Equally, too many old politicians are unable to come up with fresh ideas for the country. As such the country remains locked into a time warp.
As a consequence, the politics of Guyana becomes physically and mentally draining on the people. It is destroying the young people whom we all assume are the ones who should inherit the mantle of the future.
The young people receive the wrong signals from adult society. They see mediocrity being pushed above meritocracy and they become confused. It shatters their high ideals.
Yet, it is our young people who continue to put Guyana on the map. Be it in academics or in sports, it is the young people who by their achievements make Guyana known and make us proud of being Guyanese.
This past week, Guyana once again dominated the regional Caribbean Examinations Council awards. These young scholars who distinguished Guyana and placed at the top of the Caribbean have done their country proud, as their predecessors did.
It was so refreshing to have read about their successes, especially against the backdrop of so much of the negative publicity that our country has been receiving in recent days because of illegal activities of Guyanese outside of the country’s borders.
But how much is the country prepared to invest in these and other young people? And to what extent is the country willing to take a gamble and allow the young people to take control of the future of the country? To what extent is the older generation willing to step aside and make way for the younger generation?
It seems to me that today it has become a norm to have persons work in both the public and private sectors beyond the age of retirement. The message surely cannot be that we do not have bright and young people to take over.
Over the years, Guyana has proven that it can produce the brightest and best in the Caribbean. Yet, our young people are forced to wait for promotions and opportunities because of the practice of keeping older persons in place until their arthritis becomes unbearable. Why is retirement so dreaded in Guyana?
Why do we assume that the young people do not have what it takes? Perhaps it is the brain drain that has prompted this mentality about older persons being indispensible. Perhaps it is plain insecurity that prevents us from trusting young people with the future of this country.
Burnham and Jagan were both young men when they came into office. Today there are many young people engaged in politics, but take a calculator and go to the opposition benches in parliament and calculate the average age of the parliamentarians on that side. Then do the same for the government benches. The stark reality of the numbers will hit you. The nation’s affairs are being run by the old.
We are not investing sufficiently in our young people and yet we make the excuse that these young people do not have what it takes. How are they ever going to have what it takes if they are not being given an opportunity to prove themselves?
Look at the advertisements for jobs in the newspapers. Most of them are sidelining our young people by demanding experience. This sidelines young people looking to gain experience.
There was also this past week, the bungling of arrangements in relation to Guyana’s participation in an international rugby tournament. Guyana’s non-participation is a major blow to the young players and comes at a time when Guyana was making strides in the sport.
It seems as if there was some change of arrangements relating to defraying the cost of participation in the tournament. Instead of receiving this assistance from the organizers in advance, the arrangements were changed so that teams would only receive the assistance after they would have arrived at the tournament.
As a result, it was said that the local rugby association found itself cash strapped by some eleven millions dollars to help fund the team’s participation. Not being able to raise the money in time for the registration for the tournament, Guyana found itself technically ejected from participating. As a result, our young rugby players, many of whom have brought glory to Guyana, have been denied further exposure.
This need not have happened. Approaches could have been made to the government to advance the monies required. There is no reason why the monies could not have been advanced once a guarantee was given that the assistance provided by the organizers would be used to refund the advance by the government.
If our leaders are serious about ensuring that the young people should inherit the future, it is time they stop giving lip service to investing in youth. It is now overdue that steps be taken to place greater responsibility into the hands of the young people of Guyana, whether it is in parliament or outside of it.

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