Youth Involvement in Elections
09 April, 2015KHARTOUM (SUDANOW)—Most of the electoral programmes of the presidential candidates include provisions on the youths and the youths' problems, but none of them includes ideas on effective solutions to their complicated and ramified problems with the unemployment coming at the top.
The Sudan is demographically described as a young nation, even among the top nations with a high rate of young people as those whose age ranges from one day to 14 years count 41%, those of 15-64 years old comprise 56% while the people who are more than 65 years of age are only 3% of the Sudan's total population. Accordingly, the people who are capable of work comprise 74% of the total population, yet the country is internationally rated as one of the worst nations in connection with the unemployment, particularly among the youths with 30% of them are jobless, according to a recent report by the UN Labor Organization. And for her part, Labor and Administrative Reform Minister Ishragah Sayyed Mahmoud put the rate of the jobless youths at 32% while the rate of unemployment among the university graduates is 40%. She warned against this high rte describing it as "alarmingly grave."
Although he embellished his programme with the motto "Substitute youths capable of change", independent candidate Omar Awad Hassan spoke about man-making and job opportunities and building the future youths but stopped short of saying how he would do this. Nor did his programme include any idea about solutions to the youth problems but said he would speak about this on time.
The presidential candidate of the National Congress Party (NCP) and incumbent President Omar al-Beshir, speaking in a recent campaign rally, described the youths as "the leaders of the future and builders of the nation" but only instructed the authorities concerned to vitalize the energies of the youths. In the seventh article of his predominantly political election programme titled "together towards the hope and future", Beshir spoke about promotion and guidance of the intellectual and cultural youth capacities, about sponsorship of the youth voluntary initiatives, consolidation of their participation and contribution to development and national building.
Presidential candidate Mohamed Awad al-Baroudy spoke to SUDANOW on the youth problem but did not offer a solution too. He said: "The youths have no clear contribution or role , on the contrary, they got desperate and hopeless due to protracted unemployment and tended to think about migration abroad."
Baroudy, however, offer a solution only for the level of the political positions, saying: "Remaining in power should not take long periods of time …our programme is based on the motto that nobody should keep in power for more than four years."
Independent presidential candidate Alam Al-Huda Ahmed Osman said in an interview to SUDANOW that his candidacy was basically motivated by the youths as there are issues in the Sudanese political arena that require organization like the youth status which is highly important and needs to be addressed. The youths are facing problems of unemployment and wearisome idleness, he said, adding that effective solutions must be found to those problems. "We blame the erroneous policies towards the youths, including their exclusion from the political participation and from influencing the decision-making, while there are old people clinging to power for ages. This is shameful," he said.
For her part, Professor Fatima Abdul Mahmoud, the presidential candidate for the Democratic Socialist Union Party (DSUP), offered some ideas for those problems, saying that her party is planning to solve the unemployment problem by employing five million youths by reopening the industries, establishment of rural development projects and investment in immigration for raising the gross domestic product.
Commenting on the political address of the candidates, Ibtihaj Ali, holder of MSC in rural development, graduated in 2010 and until now has not find a job, said: "It is nonsensical talk said during the election campaign to attract the voters and forgotten afterwards and there remain the youth problems of unemployment, search for migration and non-participation in the public life," Ali said. "Why shouldn't new bloods flow in the political life, for instance?" she wondered.
Hisham Ahmed al-Tayeb, a young man working in a private research center, says the electoral programme of the ruling party or any other party does not offer any vision for improving the youths' status in connection with education, employment, general health, political participation and tendency for immigration.
Mirghani Bin Oaf, an expert in the Sudan affairs and analyst, told SUDANOW that emphasis on the youths is an international vogue that cannot be ignored, indicating that the political address of the Sudanese, since independence, has been characterized by unachievable daydreams and yearnings. He adds that in all previous elections no winner has been brought to account for his performance and there was no legal mechanism or otherwise for accountability of the holders of the constitutional positions about the promises they made during the electoral campaigns due to the constitutional immunity which is one of the presidency problems as the president can only be accountable for high treason, constitutional violation and disgraceful deeds.
Oaf opines that the youth problems, including the unemployment, can be solved by their active participation in the civil society organizations and in the state institutions and through provision of partnerships with the unconventional public sector like the universities, research centers, etc.
The contestants in the forthcoming general elections number 3,323 candidates, some representing political parties and others independent, including 16 presidential candidates, competing in 1,197 constituencies, some of them running for the national assembly and others for the legislative councils of the states as declared by the National Elections Commission (NEC).
According to the timetable that was set by the NEC, the election campaigns, which started on last February 24 will come to an end on Friday, April 10, but Khartoum streets and atmosphere are still quiet and free of the noise and clamor which used to prevail in the past with the approach of the polling date.
According to article 67 of NEC law, all contestants have to finance their candidacies by themselves from funds they obtain from members of their parties, contributions or from any other Sudanese sources endorsed by the NEC. The law prohibits the use by the parties and independent candidates of the facilities and financial and human resources of the state, except the media channels.
The last elections were held in Sudan five years ago in April 2010 while the present election process began on last October 28, starting with the first stage of publishing and opening the electorate register.
E N D
MAS/ AS
Photo of the Week
Everybody alive today came from one African country (The Independent) Ariana Baio Khartoum, Jan.1 (Sudanow)-It is well known that all humans alive today can be traced back to a common ancestor but a study may have found where that ancestor originates. Researchers at the University of Oxford’s Big Data Institute mapped the entirety of genetic relationships among humans t...
More-
01 January, 2023
Phone battery killed nine persons, injured twelve
Zalingei, Jan.1 (Sudanow) - A dispute over a phone battery, in Marin Market, Central Darfur, led to the killing of nine persons and injuring of another twelve. The Director of Central Darfur Police, Salah Omar Al-Tayeb told SUNA last Thursday that main reasons behind the events in Zalingei began with a dispute over a phone battery, where one of the citizens stabbed to death. The police official added that the police forces moved to th...
Contact Us
Address: Sudan News Agency (SUNA) Building, Jamhoria Street, Khartoum - Sudan
Mobile:+249 909220011 / +249 912307547