Ten reasons why the PPP lost the youth vote

Apr 19, 2015 APNU Column, Features / Columnists

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The People’s Progressive Party has been fooling young people for over two decades. It has now discovered, not surprisingly, that it has lost young people’s confidence and support.
First, the PPP failed to realise that ‘unemployment ‘is the central issue affecting young school-leavers. The PPPC’s disregard for measures to deal with the massive jobs’ crisis has had unfavourable consequences. Children who do not complete their elementary education satisfactorily will find it difficult to get jobs as adults. The majority of young university graduates, unable to find employment, remain under- or un-employed, or join the throng of thousands who emigrate every year. Young people suffer most, owing to the fact that school-leavers are inexperienced and have a long wait before they find their first job.
Second, the PPP failed to repair the broken public education system. Public schools are producing an increasing number of illiterate and innumerate young people. Failure rates at the annual National Grade Six Assessment examinations are astronomically high. The Ministry of Education reports that about 6,000 children drop out of our primary and secondary schools annually. The chronic crises and the current controversy at the University of Guyana are examples of the administration’s lack of concern for students and their education.
Third, the PPP, as a result, has failed to stanch the flood of school dropouts. It has presided over an unequal economy in which there are few new job opportunities for youths. These, and the rising number of teenage pregnancies, are all signs of a desperate social predicament. The PPPC failed young people and is robbing them of their future.
Fourth, the PPP ignored young people’s legitimate aspirations for the government to promulgate a coherent national youth policy that would that would guide youths in the future. The Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport has brazenly publicly announced on several occasions that the National Youth Policy would be reviewed. The problem is that he has promulgated no such ‘Policy.’ The result has been that youths continue to face difficult lives in the land of their birth.
Fifth, the PPP created a plethora of ‘so-called’ youth programmes. These were designed to create the illusion of education and development. They have, however, failed to solve the problems facing young people. Despite the ferment of initiatives – CSP; NTPYE; PYCI; PYARG; YAEP and YEST – there have been few new job opportunities. Too many Guyanese youths still leave school unskilled, enter the workforce for the first time and are obliged to resort to the informal sector for employment in low-paying occupations.  Four out of every ten youths face a jobless future.
Sixth, the PPP has failed to introduce measures to resolve social problems facing youths, especially the need to curb the rate of juvenile suicide. Happy people do not kill themselves. Official data indicate that suicide became a serious public health issue in Guyana only within the last decade. Suicide is ranked seventh of the ten major causes of death. The suicide rate is approximately 20-25 per 100,000 persons in the population and it has been consistent for years. Data indicate that suicide became the leading cause of death among young people 15-24 years of age and the third leading cause of death among persons 25-44.
Seventh, the PPP failed to conduct inquests or inquiries into the deaths of young people or to publish reports of their being victims of police brutality and torture. The result has been that young people have seen themselves, disproportionately, as victims of violence. The government also failed to publish reports on the predicament of juveniles in the New Opportunity Corps. These are all signs of a dangerous and deteriorating social situation.
Eighth, the PPP failed to introduce measures that would prevent so many young men and women from being given custodial sentences for misdemeanours and minor offences. Such measures could reduce the huge prison population (of which youth are said to comprise 75 per cent) and give young people an opportunity to lead ‘law-abiding’ lives.
Ninth, the PPP refused to explain, or apologise for, the grossly disrespectful conduct of the President towards a young mathematics teacher at Aishalton Village, Rupununi, on 3rd December 2014. Reports of that event incensed young people, teachers and residents of the hinterland and coastland. It was symbolic of the state’s attitude to youth and will not be forgotten easily.
Tenth, the PPP, to confirm its casual attitude to youth affairs, cynically dawdled as the world celebrated the International Year of Youth: Dialogue and Mutual Understanding – IYY – during August 2010-August 2011. The PPP still continues to pay scant attention to events which indicate a willingness to treat youth development as a central national governmental activity.
The PPPC has sowed the seeds of disdain for young people’s concerns. It will reap a bitter harvest at the forthcoming general and regional elections, the outcome of which, inevitably, will be determined largely by the way that young people vote.
Young people will not vote for the PPP because that party in government has failed them. They will vote for APNU and AFC – the inclusive coalition, because that coalition will improve the standard of education, ensure their personal safety and introduce a genuine national youth policy that will guarantee “a good life for all”.

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