New youth party to contest election

– vows to end politics of allegation, race

A group of young Guyanese has been mobilised to form the Guyana Youth Movement which they said will be contesting the upcoming May 11 Elections, mainly aimed at encouraging youth involvement in the political sphere.

Administrator Robin Singh in an interview with this publication said the movement was initiated with the belief that Guyanese youth were not well represented or being mentored in any way to achieve success.

“They (young people) are being told your turn will come…They’re being taught that protest action is the only way to get something done, which is nonsense,” says Singh, who is currently the President of the Guyana Baseball League. He believes that there are other more effective means to seek change than a public protest. “I have worked with a lot of young people as a coach and I thought that I could show them how to win at the biggest game that’s being played in Guyana –politics,” Singh informed.

Principal among the issues of concern is the perception of social inequality within the country, he pointed out, lamenting that while there were “great policies” in Guyana, the implementation of these remain a challenge. “We’d like to see young people know that the system is fair and that the policies can work for them and you do not have to know somebody to get something done,” he added.

Singh pointed to the Government’s Remigrant Scheme as one such system that is unfair to young Guyanese. For him the inequity exists when persons coming back to Guyana receive certain benefits like duty-free concessions which are not available for many young people living within the country. “If it’s the birthright of someone living out of Guyana, it should be the birthright of someone living here,” he added.

“These are the kind of things that we are going to press for; not wholesale changes where we are going to break up this and break up that. We want to move away from the politics of allegations, the politics of race, and the politics of not doing something because you didn’t think of it.”

He believes that for too long some in office have failed to see the potentially meaningful contributions of others that could be used to propel the nation.

The GYM is running for seats in Parliament where it believes its cause to push for improvement of issues affecting young people could be successful. Singh informed this publication that the party is working to finalise certain electoral requirements to ensure that it can compete in at least six of the 10 geographical constituencies before a campaign is officially launched. Not allowing the challenges of finances and distance to affect the movement, Singh said there was a team of smart young people who would come together with an effective campaign through the use of social media to reach their target audience.

According to the GYM Constitution, suitable candidates from the youth membership will be identified to stand for public office. It intends to support these candidates with briefings and training and by improving political campaigning methods. But there still is a role for members over 40. According to the GYM Constitution, “the role of older members is restricted to management and advice, as youth members grow past our threshold for electoral ability, they can choose to stay on in management or advisory roles. The three main political parties all boast youth arms, but the criticism is that once in Parliament, the issues that affect this demographic are not holistically addressed.”

Singh, a Computer Science graduate from the School of Business and Management, has years of experience as a Video Analyst for West Indies Cricket. The CEO of Guyana Baseball League Incorporated and previously Cricket Operations at the Guyana Cricket Board, he boasts 14 years’ experience of delivering sporting excellence in multiple sports in Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana.