Youth Shout: An Agenda for the Youth or Youth Agenda?

Charles Otieno-Hongo argues that a youth agenda should be about giving young people the space to participate in decision making with respect to issues that concern their intellectual development, social identity and economic empowerment.

“Young people are fitter to invent than to judge; fitter for execution than for counsel; and more fit for new projects than for settled business.”

Men of age object too much, consult too long, adventure too little, repent too soon, and seldom drive business home to the full period, but content themselves with a mediocrity of success. – Sir Francis Bacon

It is election time once again and as usual it is time for politicians to reach out to special interest groups as they seek votes. And as we have witnessed time and time again, one of the major groups to reach out for are the youth. Suddenly everybody and every party seems to be having an agenda for the youth. Groups such as “Vijana na Kibaki”, “Warembo Na Kibaki” and “Youth for Raila 07” are following in the footsteps of “Youth for Kanu” and similar groups witnessed in the past. And as usual, they are setting the agenda.

But whose agenda is it? We have heard the same rhetoric, about the need to “involve the youth”, “cater to the interest of the youth” during every election year, and these have been subsequently (and conveniently, I may add) forgotten once the elections are won or lost. After five years, the same characters emerge with the same songs, and the same results. And even when the cast changes, the script remains the same. The simple conclusion is that the agenda is to get the massive youth vote. Period. It has never been about the youth, simply about grabbing the votes. It also helps to have many of them turn out for party rallies at Uhuru Park or Nyayo stadium; the numbers create the perception that you are winning, which is critical for propaganda during election. If they can be mobilized to disrupt opponents rallies either by heckling speakers or throwing stones, this will be an added advantage. However, I propose that to involve the youth in meaningful participation of the nation’s politics, we must move away from the current mentality of having an agenda for the youth to establishing a youth agenda. It is not a question of having youthful MPs but rather having MPs for the youth. A political affirmative action for the youth.

Let me explain. There are two issues involved here, definition and participation. Who are the youth or what should be the youth agenda? The term youth is commonly defined by age and it is assumed that anybody falling within a certain age bracket is a representative of youth interest or the youth agenda. It is more like assuming that any woman in power is automatically representing women interests. I can be 25 years of age but be already so high up in the business and political hierarchy that my concerns are likely to be the same concerns as those of other politically powerful, wealthier and older individuals. Politically, the “youth” is a class, in our case a social construct defined by collective intellectual, social and economic oppression.
Youth is also about ideas, aspirations and values. The period in which you grow up determines your thinking and values. People who have lived in this world for a long time have different aspirations from people who are just beginning their lives. The collective youth aspiration is different from that of elders. And the language in which they express this aspiration is also different.

The youth agenda should therefore be about giving the millions of young people in this country the space to participate in decision making with respect to issues that concern their intellectual development, social identity and economic empowerment. Young people, or students for that matter, do not sit on the school governance boards, or even on church boards. In our Estate security committee meetings, fathers don’t bring their sons or daughters to attend these meetings to voice their opinions or concerns for the simple reason that they are not the ones who pay the monthly contributions! And while there may have been some progress in widening the democratic space in general, this has yet to embrace the participation of youth as a constituency. For the youth, participating in decisions on what type of education is relevant to them or legislating on issues that affect the cultural, the social and the economic environment are key. In other words, full participation in the political arena.

Participation in politics is mainly through certain political structures. In Kenya bidding for political office is chiefly through participating in the affairs of political parties. In a strong democracy, winning political parties holds the reins of power. Therefore, the assumption is that party policies and ideology will inform how the government is run. What this implies then is that special interests must be strongly represented in the party in power. But how can youth interests be represented in political parties?

In the past, the political parties have hoaxed the youth (and women) by having token offices or posts within the party to represent their interests. Parties develop posts such as secretary for youth affairs, etc. but these positions are simply for the sake of appearance. The positions are dished out to young looking party stalwarts and these are presented as a representation of the youth. Usually, these persons are already well-connected and senior party members despite their youthfulness.

To achieve this, these persons will have had access to certain privileges that connected them to mainstream party personalities, either through business association or by senior positions in civil society or other organizations, privileges that would have divorced them from the aspirations of the collective youth and endeared them to those of the established elites. A lot of times, these positions are made with the intention of ethnic balancing in terms of post distribution and the more the posts, the easier this can be achieved. We have to move away from this model.

The youth have to start participating in party politics quite early, probably from when they are still in school and college and work their way up the party. Political parties sincere on having the youth actively participate in party affairs must establish and let the youth develop their structures for participation. A party like ODM, or Ford-Kenya (note parties, not coalitions), could run parallel structures for the youth from either the school/college level or other appropriate formats, given that not all youth are in school or college. In some democracies, main political parties fund party chapters in colleges. For example, there would be a Ford Kenya college or youth league with a complete structure that would provide for the participation of young people in debating issues and contributing to party policies. Elections would be held regularly, something that fosters cultivation and education of democratic culture. When I was a college student in India, students contested some campus elections on tickets of existing parties like the Congress Party and BJP! And no doubt, local party operatives did indeed finance some of the campaigns.

Structures could be created to link these youth leagues with the main party structures so that the voices of the representatives of the youth carry equal weight to those of the older established politicians. In fact, the parties should be compelled to allocate a certain percentage of the funds they will be receiving from the government to fund these youth leagues. Voices emerging from these structures could then be given a certain percentage of votes in the august house. This means that debates taking place in the house will be replicated in the youth “parliaments”. Structures for these ‘parliaments’ to bring in bills could also be created. For example, if young people feel that uniforms should be done away with in schools, or that banning artwork on matatus denies them a source of livelihood, they can push for this agenda to be debated in parliament, knowing full well that their votes will count.

All this might sound like wishful thinking just as I am aware that it may not be a thoroughly thought out concept but the ability of the youth to be creative in a daredevil manner in terms of ideas is what this country needs at the moment. We need to think outside the box, and the elder politicians cannot lead us in this process. At least once the idea is out there, it can be debated with conclusions that it can work, or that it cannot work. Even more important, it may give rise to better ideas!

This article was initially published in the WAJIBU JOURNAL Volume 22. No 4 (November - December 2007)