I would like to start by introducing myself. My name is Eddy Nicholas Ombudo Orinda, currently a second year student of International Law and Diplomacy in Ukraine. Besides school, I sit on the Organizing and Expert Committee of the United Nations UNDP for the All Ukrainian Youth Summit of Ukraine and serve within the International Young Professionals Foundation as the Secretary for Legal Affairs.
The aim of this role is to oversee, encourage and support the development of the legal unit of the International Young Professionals Foundation, by encouraging the involvement of young professionals and law students in IYPF's legal unit. This will involve closely following legal perspectives and the development of global events and activities in the IYPF's focus areas, currently sustainable development and the management of environmental and social issues. Furthermore, the role will involve promoting, incorporating and potentially contributing to internal and external legal policy framework.
I must say that I have often read with a lot of interest opinions and comments posted on this list and would like to point out that I am particularly impressed with the level of urgency to prepare for the forthcoming 2007 General Elections. But is this the starting point? Perhaps at the end of my opinion we shall be able to all make a fair assessment of what the strategic positioning should focus on.
The incumbent government swept to power with one central objective and that was to reverse all that was perceived to have gone wrong with the previous government. This ranges from human rights violations to grand corruption and poverty. I know we are all disappointed, which explains the desperate mood to yet again refocus Kenyan politics and by extension improve livelihoods, especially for the young people.
However, being well prepared to undertake measures to enhance youth participation will have a significant payoff. It is important to engage in meaningful and constructive action since youth are easily disillusioned by perceptions of tokenism or futile proceedings. For this reason we must be careful not to make the same mistakes made after the National Youth Convention of 1997 and subsequently 1998. We fell apart somewhere along the way. Colleagues like Gor and Sande would most likely have very clear memory of the events leading up to the same.
While designing processes to engage youth is an important component of increasing participation, it is also necessary to consider ways of involving youth in the programs already being undertaken. I am talking about the resolutions six years ago to encourage every young person to join a political party and seek leadership from within. What happened? Could this have been a source of our inability to influence party manifestos? Of our incapacity to develop a new value system and structures that are sensitive to investment in youth political leadership? Unfortunately, as one of us correctly pointed out, political parties are currently the only viable instruments of political development. Is it then worthwhile fulfilling some of those commitments we made earlier? What strikes me is how easily we move on to the next steps without examining the reasons attributed to our political turmoil.
Well, I have a few points to make on the next steps,
1. This can be accomplished by finding ways of attracting the youth back to the Limuru commitments as an inroad to key political events like party nominations. I guess without proper strategies of securing these nominations at a party level, you can hardly voice your civic interest let alone parliamentary where most us have rushed!
If youth are treated with respect for the perspectives and ideas they bring forth, they will be more likely to engage in what might typically be perceived as an ‘adult’s world.’ But it starts with respect among ourselves and appreciation of our diversity and talent. It is disappointing how we have related on this list reducing it to a forum for settling personal issues.
2. Enabling youth to gain first-hand experience will promote the value of informed public debate, advocacy and compromise and therefore a more meaningful tool for policy influence. It has to be cultivated from within this forum.
3. We then make a commitment to teaching techniques to the rest of the youth and establish a pool of young people equipped for subsequent involvements in the political realm. Can we also get to know which seats our colleagues are interested in and at what level? I just realized a couple of days ago that Joshua Nyamori and Kennedy Orwa are keen on the Kisumu West Constituency and Mbita respectively. How then do Kenyans like myself who would like to provide strategic support get to engage with the process as disorganized as it is? And how will any possible funding sources do the same?
We must demonstrate the value of the public sector and the various forms of public service while raising awareness of political issues among youth. Establishing relationships will also combat cynicism about politics and politicians, at the same time helping to disprove negative stereotypes about youth. This in my opinion is the greatest challenge we face in Kenya today!
Younger citizens should be identified as assets and resources. They are agents of change that can introduce new paths of community development.
The moment we learn to recognize one another as resources, we will open ourselves to learn from one another and explore new possibilities for collaboration. This is the way to political leadership for young people. Could we just get together for once and do it? I will be looking out for any emails in response to the immediate plans this forum has regarding General Elections 2007.
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