By David A Granger
Guyana should be a nation of youth and for youth. Nearly seven out of every ten citizens are classified as ‘young.’ Youths (15-24 years) and dependent children (0-14 years) constituted 69 per cent (264,096 persons) of the national population in the last census. Georgetown is the home of the Commonwealth Youth Programme and youth used to enjoy a place of prominence in Guyanese political and social life in the post-Independence years. ‘Youth Week’ was ritually observed with educational tours, exhibitions, cultural festivals and sports contests. Things have changed over the past 19 years.
The People’s Progressive Party/Civic administration has paid little attention to issues affecting youth. The Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport admitted to the National Assembly in January this year that the administration did not have a National Youth Policy. Two youths subsequently staged a protest at the ministry to protest the absence of a policy. The Director of Youth hurriedly promised to publish a policy “before year-end.” The administration also dawdled as the world celebrated the International Year for Youth – IYY during August 2010-August 2011.
It was a gross dereliction for the PPP/C administration not to have promulgated a unique policy to address the concerns of such a huge section of the population. A national youth policy should be a document of national significance. It should represent a nationally agreed formula for meeting the needs and aspirations of the young and provide a framework for youth development. It is a formal recognition of their potential and unique contribution to national development.
The Commonwealth Youth Programme defines the concept of a national youth policy as “a practical demonstration and declaration of the priority and directions that a country intends giving to the development of its young women and men. A national youth policy specifically represents a gender-inclusive statement that encapsulates the elements of vision, framework and realistic guidelines from which strategies and initiatives can be developed to facilitate meaningful youth participation and development within a country.“
Young people are the ones with the imagination and intuition to innovate, initiate and investigate. They are the ones with the interest to communicate, network and exchange ideas through the new media such as Facebook. They have the passion to propel change. Much of this talent is being wasted because of a lack of vision and lack of policy by the PPP/C administration. It is a grave deficiency and, as a result, this country’s young people find themselves facing three major crises – the education crisis, the employment crisis and the empowerment crisis.
The education crisis
The report of the Caricom Commission on Youth Development – ‘Eye on the Future: Invest in Youth Now for the Community Tomorrow’ – noted, among other things, that the primary education dropout rate was “at a staggering height.” Joblessness among young people in the Caribbean Community, at an average of 23 per cent, was higher than many other developed and developing countries.
Guyana, if its young people are to lead successful lives, must reduce the dropout rate, increase the matriculation rate and be transformed into an ‘Education Nation.’ Encounters with students in rural and hinterland regions – such as the Barima-Waini, Pomeroon-Supenaam and the Mahaica-Berbice Regions – have indicated that they are required to pay exorbitant fares, several thousand dollars a week, to travel to school. Youths, if they are to have a level playing field, must have access to school buses or boats, school uniforms, school-feeding schemes and school textbooks. Only trained and qualified teachers must be assigned to classrooms. Teachers must be better paid, granted extensions of their service beyond the age of 55 years and provided with proper housing. Lecturers at the University of Guyana and the Cyril Potter College of Education must be well-paid if their services are to be retained.
The high incidence of unemployment and underemployment in Guyana is caused largely by the inadequacy of our system of technical and vocational education. The importance of teaching more science subjects – Biology, Botany Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics and Zoology – which would help in personal employment and national development cannot be over-emphasised. Every school must be properly equipped with computer and science laboratories.
Essential subjects are not on the curricula and the quality of the teaching of those disciplines that are taught leaves much to be desired. Laboratory and other facilities for practical work are either non-existent or are of poor quality – the legacy of a weakened educational system under the PPP/C. These factors produce too many entrants into the labour force who are functionally illiterate.
The employment crisis
The central issue affecting young people in Guyana is unemployment. Employment is unsatisfactory or unattainable for many. The jobless rate among youths that is double that of adults. The PPP/C administration’s initiatives – the President’s Youth Choice Initiative; the President’s Youth Award: Republic of Guyana Programme and the National Training Programme for Youth Empowerment – have not alleviated the pressure of youth unemployment.
Guyana’s Household Income and Expenditure Survey which was undertaken more than a decade ago disclosed that about half of the population is not gainfully employed. The fact is that, in addition to the persons said to be ‘unemployed’, many who would like to work do not actively seek jobs simply because they have abandoned hope of finding suitable occupations. Others, though nominally ‘employed’, earn wages that condemn them to living beneath the poverty line.
Only 25 per cent of secondary school students actually matriculate. Many youths 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. Unemployed males in rural areas are obliged to work as farm labourers. Unemployed women in urban areas become low-earning manual workers. Unemployed youths, with few jobs available for which they are adequately trained, fend for themselves, often illicitly.
The empowerment crisis
APNU is committed to ensuring that young people will be “empowered to freely make informed choices” which affect their lives and wellbeing. The United Nations World Programme of Action for Youth to the Year 2000 and Beyond states: “the capacity for progress of our societies is based, among other elements, on their capacity to incorporate the contribution and responsibility of youth in the building and designing of the future. In addition to their intellectual contribution and their ability to mobilise support, they bring unique perspectives that need to be taken into account“.
A Partnership for National Unity understands the importance of youth empowerment. It will establish a Youth Development Fund and a Youth Empowerment Programme. It will enable young persons to acquire the knowledge to make “informed choices” while participating in decision-making at the personal, family, community and national levels. It will provide for the active participation of youth at all levels of decision-making. It will make possible a science-based education that involves establishing information technology laboratories and the extension of technical and vocational training. The PPP/C administration after 19 years in office, has failed this nation’s youth. It has done little to solve the problems of youth under-education, unemployment and dis-empowerment. It has no policy framework to encourage workers and enterprises in the informal economy to enter the formal economy. Its efforts to address the concerns of micro, small and medium-scale enterprises have been fragmentary and ineffectual.
Guyana’s future, inescapably, lies in the hands of its young. An APNU administration will acknowledge this truism by giving youths the best preparation to lead this nation forward into the future. APNU will educate, employ and empower young people to enable them to control their destiny and guide Guyana for generations to come.
Text of an address delivered by AFC Prime Ministerial Candidate Raphael Trotman
Alliance For Change (AFC)
My fellow Guyanese,
It is my pleasure and an honour to speak with you as we enter what will be a defining moment in the history of our country. These do not come very often, but it has come, and it is now.
Once every five years, you hold in your hands the destiny of this young nation.
This time, Guyana is at the crossroads, poised for greatness, yet vulnerable to destruction because of the chains that hold our hearts to the past. It is also vulnerable to stagnation if we continue to recycle the past regimes or exchange one for the other.
We in the AFC are not talking about exchange. We are talking about change! real change! With a whole new team, a whole new look at politics and life, and a whole stream of new ideas and innovation for a new century.
A vote to change course with the AFC will be a vote for much more than economic success. It will be a vote that will start the process of healing and reconciliation after decades of division and distrust.
A vote for the AFC will be a vote that says boldly, loudly and clearly, that enough is enough! That the people of Guyana have paid too much for what happened so many decades ago, and that we are ready as one people, and as brothers and sisters to move on.
A vote for the AFC is a vote that says boldly, loudly and clearly that we know that we can only realize our dreams together, and that we cannot and will not, let racial politics ever divide us again.
This vote will say to us and all those who are looking on from beyond our shores, that Guyana has come of age; that Guyana has grown up; and that Guyana is now ready to heal, to embrace our diversity and move on.
This vote to change with the AFC will speak to our hearts in our quiet moments, and tell us that indeed ‘The War is Over.
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It is time for new beginnings; new hope; and new mountains to climb together as one people; one family.
On November 28, from 6am to 6pm, you will be exercising more power in deciding the future of Guyana than at any other time in your life, because the results of these elections will decide what happens to Guyana for a long to come.
You will have in your hands the power of the ballot.
I plead with you to go out and vote. I implore you to vote for the issues which matter most to you. Do not vote for race, vote for a better Guyana; do not vote colour, vote for your future.
Voting is a very personal decision, and despite what you hear, your vote is secret. So do not fear where there is no need to fear. Let courage and reason prevail in the ballot box.
Our history is there for us to reflect on and learn from. But we cannot allow ourselves to be enslaved by it. Let us strive together for brighter days ahead.
Let the quiet voice of reason that is within each of us be our guide.
We have had similar opportunities in the past but we misused them. We made some mistakes, and we paid dearly. We put our hope and trust in the hands of leaders who dashed our hopes and broke the trust we gave them.
In the past, many of our leaders have acted as though they own you and own the country, and they act as though they can do whatever they want.
They are mistaken. Guyanese are a patient people, but they are also a wise and resolute people when they need to be. The time has come to be wise and resolute.
We cannot allow ourselves to be insulted anymore. This is the height of eyepass as we would say. It is time for us to put a stop to it.
Young people in Guyana are on the move. They are growing up quickly and they can tell sense from nonsense. I know that all Guyanese can do this.
So let us not allow race to get in our way. We have to break from the past. I am asking you to find the courage to vote your conscience, and vote for change so that together we can start to do the difficult work ahead to put Guyana right.
As our legendary national poet Martin Carter so succinctly captured it for us, “All are involved, all are consumed.”
I am asking you to get involved and vote for the real change that the AFC is offering. We have worked hard these past few years. In that time, Khemraj and I have weathered many storms and we are stronger for it.
I am also unwavering in my conviction that compared to the other candidates running for President, pound for pound, Khemraj is by far the best candidate to lead Guyana for the next 5 years.
He is a man of integrity, he is bright, he is selfless, he is passionate, he is fair, and he will not rest until the job is done. That’s the kind of person I want to be my President, and that is why I am standing with him, shoulder to shoulder, in these elections on November 28.
Khemraj and I, along with Sheila Holder took up the mantle and are trying to do our part. Sheila now answers to a higher calling. We are now asking you to do your part.
During these last few hours before we go to the polls, I ask that you spend time praying for divine guidance. This struggle in not only one of the flesh.
May God guide us and be with us all as cast our vote.
God Bless all Guyana!
