Our young people are failing us because we have failed them

Jan 17, 2019 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

We do not need politicians of any particular caste; we need politicians of class. We do not need leaders of high breeding; we need rulers of high morals and principles.
Sophistication, class, high principles and high morals is what our political leaders should embody. We need politics of refined tongues, not those who use expletives as a second language.
We need politicians to set a good example for the younger generation. This is the legacy that we should bequeath to our children and grandchildren.
We are fond of saying and hoping that the political and economic salvation of Guyana resides in our young people. Each generation of young people has failed us because we have failed them.
Each generation of young people has found itself co-opted into our rotten political culture. Our young people should have by now broken with race politics; they have not.
Election after election, the younger generation have fallen victim to the ethnic polarization that has characterized Guyanese politics for the past sixty years. Each election there is some degree of violence and leading this violence are young people.
They have fallen victim to Guyana’s dreaded political culture of refusing to accept the will of the people. We must however be patient with the young generation.
We should not expect much of them until we begin to expect more from ourselves. But in being patient with the younger generation, we must also encourage them to partake in a new type of politics, one that is not nasty, dirty, or clannish.
The best way to encourage these new values within our political culture is through example. There is no greater catalyst for change than example. Children learn what they live. Young people imitate what they see.
The younger generation needs heroes and heroines.
They need political leaders that they can look up to and be inspired by. They need to see leaders of sophistication and class, not leaders who are carpetbaggers and opportunists.
They need to see politics as a worthy undertaking. Politics must be seen as the pursuit of high principles. Unfortunately, this is not what our young people are witnessing in Guyana.
The politics of Guyana is rotten. It is rotten to the core.
The young people are witnessing politics as a parade of egos. This is not good for them.
Politicians must come across as persons of integrity and principle, but who can be humble at the same time. The politics that our young people are witnessing is the politics of vendettas.
Our politics is vicious. This is not the sort of legacy that we should be leaving for future generations. There is too much hatred, anger and venom in local politics.
The young people need to see our political leaders in civilized discourse rather than always attacking each other. They need to see an end to the constant bickering and fighting that is taking place.
Politicians on one side of the political divide will have differences with politicians on the other side. But they should express their differences in a way that does not breed personal animosity.
Politics in Guyana has become a game of dirty tricks. Sadly we have not learnt from the lessons of the past.
Our young people therefore today are increasingly viewing politics as a dirty thing and something that they should avoid.
Politics has become a ruthless profession in Guyana and those with power have shown the propensity to use that power to settle personal differences. This is far from the example that we should be setting for the younger generation.
Politics must be about service. It should not be seen as a gateway to personal enrichment.
A person who enters politics in Guyana should not do so out of the need to become rich. There is nothing wrong with making a career out of politics, but it must not be seen as a means to get one’s hands into the cookie jar.
Politics should be about principles. It should be about honouring agreements, negotiating in good faith, and not trying to outfox or deceive one’s opponents. Politics should not be for rogues; it should be for gentlemen and ladies.
Unless and until we do that, we should not expect anything better from our young people. They will continue to fail us because we are failing them.

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Our young people are failing us because we have failed them

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