‘Lower voting age to 16'– Youth Parliamentarians
The 11th Regional Youth Parliament took place at the Eileene L. Parsons Auditorium on the grounds of the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College in Paraquita Bay.
The Youth Parliament session is a part of the 40th Conference of the Caribbean, the Americas and the Atlantic Region of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association being held in the territory this week.
The 13-member Government side led by (MOCK) Premier and Minister of Finance Hon Temulji Hughes moved a motion which had as its resolve clause that regional youth parliamentarians agree to engage future generations in representative democracy.
The motion posited that the participation of young people in any representative democracy is essential for the continued growth and strengthening of that democracy.
“The youth are an integral part of the future leadership of a country and must therefore be engaged from an early age to ensure succession planning and the continued development of that country,” said the Motion.
However, (MOCK) Leader of the Opposition and Representative for the Third District Honourable Claudius Maynard does not believe that the Government has done all it could to ensure education, awareness and proper education of the youths.
“We believe that until the Government can present a concise plan in which they seek to engage the population of our society of our countries, then and only then we could bring this motion back to the House and we in the Opposition would be happy to agree with the motion,” said Maynard.
“We agree with the Motion, just not now. A number of preliminary steps must be taken,” he said. He further posited that engagement with the youth population is bad now, both for youth and for society at large and noted that there were alternatives to what was being proposed in the motion.
Maynard believes that through the motion, the Government will only engage those who have supported them or their party. He said that in 15 to 20 years’ time those young people will come to feel obligated to the persons from whom they had received an embrace.
In response to the Leader of the Opposition, the Minister for Youth and Gender Affairs and the Representative for the Eighth District Honourable Ade O’Neal of Barbados said that democracy is at the brink of collapse as a whole section of society does not engage in it. He said youth is isolated from democratic systems. “This is why I welcome this resolution,” he said.
He said that the Youth Parliament must be more than a political gimmick to show the skills of the various youth of the region. “It must be a champion of advocacy. It must be an opportunity for the youth to effect real policy,” he said.
He said, “Our democracy is not working because we have taken the youth out of the process by refusing to see them as partners. We treat them as third class citizens as a people,” said O’Neal.
Make voting age 16
O’Neal said that the voting age should be lowered to age 16. “The voting age must be lowered to the age of 16. If it is ok got a 16 year old to engage in sexual activity and the complexities associated with such, then it is only fitting that they be allowed to directly elect their leaders. If you reduce the voting age to 16 it would be a clear signal to them that young people matter,” O’Neal said.
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13 Responses to “‘Lower voting age to 16'– Youth Parliamentarians ”
VIP wont like that since the youths are not voting for them.