It is reported that celebration was awash at the headquarters of ELECAM, the elections management body, ELECAM last Tuesday as the Head of the Communications and Press Unit, Bintou Sarr, observed that the organ had just surpassed the “target of 20 000 newly registered youth.
one week before the deadline of the nationwide 20-day operation which was launched on February 8, 2016”. Only those unfamiliar with the lacklustre attitude of Cameroonian youths towards elections and more particularly the ongoing registration of voters across the country should be wondering why the registration of 27 738 new voters should be so much a cause for celebration.
The initiative came up as an umpteenth endeavour to attract new voters with a particular target for the youth and as one of the senior officials of ELECAM explained, the body was trying a new strategy consisting of abandoning the well-known use of banners and radio stations to emulate the examples of evangelists by addressing personal message through cell phones.
A figure of 27, 738 may appear illusory given the potential voting population which has, sometimes been projected to be quite near the ten million mark, but it is quite significant in the present context where there is generalized voter apathy. ELECAM officials had understandably been relying on massive youth participation to reverse the trend or, at least increase the volume of new potential voters especially with the exponential growth in the population.
Many are getting into the voting age bracket which begins with their 20th birthday. But that has not been the case, plunging ELECAM officials to burn the late night oil in their attempts to find new strategies because, above all, greater citizen participation in the electoral process is an impressive indicator for the credibility of the electoral process.
There have been suggestions that the general conduct of politics in the country has tended to frustrate the youthful components of the population; but it must also be recognized that the main political parties stretching partisan lines have lately been very concerned about the participation of the youth in decision-making. Obviously, the older class will not voluntarily cede their places even to indolent youths all in the name of respecting the political desire to ensure youth participation. It will, rather, require the youth to use all what it takes, including political struggle through elections, to get to where they aspire to be.
Political discourse is awash with the desire to empower the nation’s youth and very recently, the President of the Republic, Paul Biya reiterated his most cherished wishes for the youths of Cameroon. Hear him during his Youth Day eve message to the Cameroonian youth last February 10, 2016: “Through your active participation, you are expected to inevitably and progressively take the nation’s future into your own hands, under the benevolent mentorship of the elders, in a properly organized blending of generations.”
How else could a political commitment be made? And how can our youth shy away from their responsibilities when everyone knows and recognizes that they are the spearhead of the nation; that they represent the future of the nation?
And how can they be expected to fully assume their future responsibilities when they sit idly watching indifferently as the political actors of the day run the country. Maybe their active participation in the political process will serve as a reminder to all those firmly seated in political and other decision-making positions that there are viable alternatives and that no one really needs to be worried about the future of the country because a politically-conscious youth is lying in ambush to serve once the opportunities come. But it all begins with active participation in the electoral process. It all begins with getting registered for future elections.
