- We have those that come in by virtue of coming from families who have had key members in politics.
- Their parents, or close relatives were in politics, within no time, they study a relevant course to get to have the right tools of practice.
Image: HANDOUT
“There is lack of linkage between youthful parliamentarians and the youth on the ground. This is where our problem begins in Africa." This is an interesting statement by Amal Abubakar, a member of Comesa Youth Advisory.
She was peaking during the just ended Pre-Tana 2024 Youth Consultation in Dakar, Senegal. Her views summarised some critical points.
Having been invited as one of the African youth ambassadors to attend this forum organised by the African Union, GIZAU, Tana Forum, Trust Africa and IPSS, on the theme 'Aligning African States and the African Youth', I couldn’t agree more with that statement.
In Africa, we have youthful parliamentarians, of different categories. They have either come into power, under thorough campaign, from probably a very simple background, and working within their existing popularity of being vocal on issues affecting their community.
Secondly, there are those who have the right linkages, probably once former student leaders in their former colleges and universities. They have the advantage of the right network and direct links to political party leaders who can then advise and either fund their campaigns to reach the youth or nominate them.
Thirdly, we have those that come in by virtue of coming from families who have had key members in politics. Their parents, or close relatives were in politics, within no time, they study a relevant course to get to have the right tools of practice as they know they have direct tickets to politics.
The last category are those that come from families with key members in politics, at local, national and regional levels. These are the ones we call deep state. They have oligarch relatives in politics, academia, business, regional and international leadership.
All these categories of parliamentarians are interested in representing their fellow youth in power. The former two categories are the ideal representatives, they take into consideration the issues that the youth face, they have probably experienced the same issues of marginalisation, unemployment, gender discrimination among other ills that are common in our society.
They also bring in the energy that the youth on the ground have. They can be former musicians or people in the arts, or even student leaders who have previously commandeered protests. So they are always the popular ones.
However, there seems to be a disconnect with the youth parliamentarians a few months or years after they get into power. Why might this be the case? Do they ultimately start listening more to the veteran parliamentarians and party leaders, who are mostly from the older generations that probably funded them? Do they start having other priorities in terms of investing in their own individual futures and those of their own families? Why are most not bringing the energy that they previously had during the campaign period. From my own recent research on youth in public participation in Kenya, one of the outcomes is that the young parliamentarians seldom table bills in parliament.
The latter two groups of youthful parliamentarians are the children of those that have over the years held instruments of power, or they are highly connected to the families of oligarchs. They, to me can either be the best or the worst.
They, by virtue of growing in the environment of decision makers, might have seen gaps. Thus, they would be in the position of going for very specific studies that answer to those gaps, and therefore lead with more tact and wisdom.
Then the other type of the latter two are those who might have been handed down power as an almost birth right, like what we have witnessed over the years with Yoweri Museveni and Paul Kagame of Uganda and Rwanda respectively, and how they dish positions to their families. How would these categories, even relate with what their fellow youth are going through, when they think that they have an absolute birth right to power. Would they even table policies that would be up for discussion.
It’s time for the youth in Africa to wake up, and be able to study these categories of their representatives well, and whether they represent them well. And it is also time for the youthful leaders to realise that as most countries in Africa are democratising, it’s a ticking time bomb, for them to either work, collaborate with the youth or be removed through the same ballot.
Communications researcher and scholar, currently pursuing Peace and Development Work Studies in Sweden. [email protected]