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Feb 08, 2019 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

 

There have been lots of calls for young people to be given a greater role in the leadership of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Alliance for Change (AFC). But are the young ready to assume a greater leadership role within their parties?
If yesterday’s protests by youth representing the AFC and the APNU are anything to judge by, then these young people are not yet ready for leadership. They need to become more independent in their thinking and not to simply be reflexive in supporting everything that the leadership of their party say and do.
The youth of the AFC and the APNU must not blindly follow their leaders. They should not be lured into believing that house-to house-registration or a new cycle of registration is necessary for them to be enfranchsised.
Youthful supporters of the APNU and the AFC were part of the protests outside of GECOM yesterday demanding house-to-house registration. They were animated and repeating on old discredited jingle about their vote being counted.
These young people were essentially calling for house-to-house registration, without which they believe many of them would be left off the list of electors and therefore be ineligible to vote. This is pure hogwash and shows their misunderstanding of the national registration system.
Since 2005, legislation was passed to allow for continuous registration. This was supported by all the political parties in parliament at the time. It means that once you attain the age of 14 years, you can go and be registered during the cycles of registration.
By virtue of that registration, your name and biographic details are on record and will be issued with a national identification card. Whenever afterwards you attain the age of eligibility for voting, which is 18 years of age, your name will automatically be extracted from the national registration roll and become part of the list of electors. So there is no need for you to register again to be eligible to vote.
The APNU, the AFC and the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC) contested the November 12 local government elections and did not complain about young people being left off the list. The only problem with those elections was the military vote and the blame for the hiccups was laid at the administration of the GDF for not advising GECOM of the transfers of ranks from one base and location to the other. But otherwise there were no major problems with persons being disenfranchised.
Suddenly, the young people with the APNU and the AFC are toeing the line of their leaders that without house-to- house registration, they will be disenfranchised. This is pure nonsense.
The young people would have been eligible for registration since the age of 14. Those who have since reached the age of registration will be added automatically to the list of electors. There is no need for a new registration.
But if per chance their names do not appear on the list of electors, then they can still have their names inserted during the claims period just before the elections. The protests yesterday which called for registration so that young people can vote were therefore misguided.
Judging from the enthusiasm of the protests, it may be too premature to place leadership in the hands of those young people. If based on a false premise, they can blindly follow their leaders, then they really should not be trusted with leadership responsibility.
Sad as it is, they have not yet demonstrated that they are politically matured to undertake such an important role.

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