A boat or a car becomes
useful only if it is driven or sailed by individual or group with a destination
in mind. When a passenger is aboard a ship without knowing or even asking about
the destination of such a ship, he or she becomes like a floating canoe in the
middle of ocean without anyone to steer, in this case, any direction the wave
goes becomes a destination and usually don’t end well.
Many youths in Africa and
other developing countries have started taking the bull by the horn by
participating in their country’s electoral process and making impacts through
elections wins, which enable them to steer their country’s policy direction to
suite the present generation without any form of derailment.
One of such brave Youths is
Manny Pacquiao, yes the same Manny, the Boxer, are you surprised? Please don’t
be!, despite the fact that he is a busy professional Boxer with plenty title
wins to his credit, he still finds time to seat at proceedings as a House of
Representatives member in the Philippines, he has now been re-elected into the
Senate of his country on May 10, 2016 .Manny’s case is an inspiration to
aspiring youths who want to participate in the way their country is being run
or governed, he is not by any means a poor man, despite his busy schedule, his
urge to liberate his people from old ways of doing things led him to become a
politician who use all or most of his proceeds as well as his office to support
charity and the people he represents. With his firm grip of the Philippine’s
political system, Manny said that has
given him the opportunity to get more involved in his charity work, according
to him ‘I sign no less than 50 cheques every day for hospitals bills. .Just
after a few days of absence, the cheques I need to sign pile up, my home(in
Saragani) is always open, many come daily to ask for help’ Pacquiao told
morning show Umagang Kay of ABS-CBN.
Although
youths’ participation in politics in Africa is on the very low, I must say that
in the last few years, awareness is on the high side, consciousness is being
awakening and youths who were previously seating on the edge have started to
get involved in the leadership of their countries or states, in Zimbabwe for
example, Nelson Chamisa, 34 year-old who was born in Gutu in
Zimbabwe is making a big difference in the country’s politics. He graduated from Harare Polytechnic and
University of Zimbabwe and rose to prominence in 2003 as the youngest
legislator when he was elected to parliament. He has served as the Secretary of
the Zimbabwe National Student’s union (1997), Member of Parliament for
Kuwadzana (2003 and 2005), and as Secretary for Information and Publicity,
MDC-T (2006). In 2011, he was elected as the Party’s Organizing Secretary. In
Parliament, he is a member of the portfolio committees of Defense and Home
Affairs, Public Accounts, Gender and Youth and Transport and Communications. He
is also a member of the Local Government, Public Works & Urban Development
and the African Caribbean and Pacific Parliament.
Over
the years, Nelson has risen from student activism to become one of the key figures
in Zimbabwean politics and he is just 34 years old.
It
is important not to tag politics as a ‘dirty game’ as being projected by many people
in developing countries, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa this is because the
people who hold leadership positions are the ones that determine the future of
the youths and our unborn children, therefore it is too sensitive to be left in
the hands of old charlatans who have always taken the youths for granted. Although
many may argue that series of corruption events in the realm of politics in
Africa may constantly solidify their fears, I bet to say that when the youths
continue to shy away, status quo will be maintained and the positive change we
crave for will only be a pipedream.
In South Africa, Lindiwe
Mazibuko, 31,
was elected the Democratic Alliance (DA)
Parliamentary Leader and National Spokesperson in 2009 and Shadow Minister for
Rural Development and Land Reform in 2010. In October 2011, Lindiwe was elected
by the DA’s Parliamentary Assembly as Parliamentary Leader and Leader of the
Opposition in the National Assembly.
Born
in Swaziland and raised in Durban, Lindiwe went to school at St Mary’s DSG in
Kloof, where she matriculated in 1997. From there she went on to the University
of KwaZulu-Natal to pursue a Bachelor of Music degree then to the University of
Cape Town, where she obtained a BA (French, Classics, Media & Writing) in
2006 and a BA Honors (Political Communication) degree in 2007. Her constituency
is North Durban in KwaZulu-Natal, and articulates that she is utterly committed
to politics and is grateful to have the privilege of being able to live her
passion and involve in the policy directions that affect her people.
The truth be told, I believe
in the saying that greatness requires hard work and involvement, while some
youths, who are brave enough to dear, are already living their TODAY as leaders,
some are still living in the cliché that ‘We are leaders of tomorrow’, tomorrow
can be today only if more youths put in the work like some are already doing or
else the cliché (LEADER OF TOMORROW) will remain elusive.
Government
is everyone’s business. Aristotle said that man is by nature a political
animal, that is, politically inclined. Therefore, there is no need to wait to
get old as many postulates before joining politics or expressing interest in
the leadership of one’s country at any level so wish by the aspiring youth.
Let us
rise-up and get involved in the steering of the ship of our countries to the
right direction so as to ensure a secured future for the children unborn. With
the level of awareness and political education in Africa, ‘MONEYBAG’ politics
is currently being eliminated; therefore, all you need to do as a youth who is
aspiring to lead is a well thought-out plan and presentation, when your people
buy into it and believe in you, it means they will vote for you.
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