LETTER: Youth in Parliament – Is this just for Show? 

Dear Editor,

                                          Youth in Parliament – Is this just for Show? 

We need to stop and think about this new trend where we have fallen in love with youth promotion in parliament and wanting to be the most successful party to elevate young people to the hallowed halls of legislative, judicial and executive power.

We have been watching a parade of young people, especially from one side, into both the upper and lower houses. The young women are there with their fancy hairdos and perfectly made up faces, their expensive clothes and shoes and designer handbags. The young men are all smiles and ready to be the ones in authority and to be managers of the female rush (this is a given).

There is just one youth on the other side. He seems to be a smart young man but he looks somewhat too junior and straight-laced to be taken seriously. Politics is ninety percent show, pomp and circumstance. The rest is happenstance.

This move to involve the youth more in the management of the nation’s affairs is seen by many as progressive, and persons are happy for them. But shouldn’t we be thoughtful about what they are bringing to the people of Antigua and Barbuda that could be looked on as sustainable and leading to development in the society?

Because we are small, we tend to know a lot about each other, and more so about those who grace the pages of our newspapers, or whose voices we hear on the radio or TV on a regular basis. We have formed opinions of some of them based on prior knowledge and especially what they have been doing that has given rise to their new found status. One started out as an independent senator but was quickly subsumed by the lure of fame which has led to embracing the philosophy of the victors and all its potentials. One is the bright light of the other side because it seems his peers have all been chased away by the heat that emanates from the witch’s cauldron. His survival is said to be his usefulness and also that he has paternal protection within the ranks.

The questions to be asked are, is this rush to promote the youth into politics done for the best reasons, or is it just for show? Are these young people fired up and energized with the passion to want to make a difference for their country, or is it just their search for a chance to achieve fame and recognition? Or is it just that they too will be waiting for their opportunity to emulate their older comrades in arms  and get what they can get?

Will they fall prey to the philosophy of keeping their mouths shut and their ideas to themselves and just fit in to whatever groove they met established there? Will they be sending a message to their peers which says if you want to make it, you have to jump on board and leave all your scholastic ideals behind.

These young people are educated so the words will flow in the houses, and they will be praised for their ability to ‘talk’. But is this what we are looking for when we appoint persons to be a part of the management system of our nation? Has the talking that we have grown accustomed to turned out to be the sum total of the measure of our lawmakers?

History has shown that in small states the eventual contamination of the youth in parliament is always expected and does materialize.

We can hope that this new batch would show some fight to be different, standing on their convictions and sense of right and wrong.

History has also shown that while waiting for this to manifest itself, we should not hold our breath.

Wise Owl

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