Attendees at the PNCR’s National Youth Convention were yesterday urged by the party’s presidential candidate David Granger to start a “Get Ten Movement” aimed at recruiting other young people to vote for the party in the upcoming elections.
“Each one of you must go out there and get ten and you will see the difference that it makes,” Granger said while addressing scores of young people at the party’s headquarters at Congress Place.
Granger asked: “If there are 500 of you in this hall and each one of you goes out there and recruits ten persons who never voted before or never voted for the PNCR before; how many people will end up voting for the PNCR?” He appealed to the gathering saying that there are many more people in the various communities who are fed up with the PPP/C administration.
Delivering the feature address at the forum organized by PNCR’s youth arm, the Guyana Youth and Student Movement (GYSM), Granger said youths currently face a crisis in education, employment and empowerment. He also said that the government was not doing enough to protect the nation’s women and girls. The education being delivered is inappropriate, Granger said, adding that youths all across Guyana are having great difficulties securing employment. He contended that the rate of unemployment among young people was higher than it was among older people. Granger said also that the empowerment of young people was being stifled by the government’s abuse of the state media and by other means. He chided the PPP/C administration for its failure to implement a National Youth Policy and its low-key observance of the International Year of Youth. “This is a special year, of course, although you won’t hear it from the government; it is the international year for youth and, in fact, this convention is perhaps the largest observance for International Year for Youth in this country. It hasn’t come from PPP/C, it has come from the GYSM,” he said to loud applause from those gathered.
Granger also underscored that it is necessary for young people to vote. “If you do not make the right decision this year in 2011, if you do exercise your franchise correctly, if you do not exercise that choice that you have, if you do not vote— because whether you vote or you don’t vote you make a choice— but if you don’t vote correctly, yuh gon tek wah yuh geh,” Granger said.
Yesterday’s forum which started 1½ hours after the scheduled 9 am start saw participation from youths from various regions in Guyana. The discussions held yesterday are expected to form the basis of the party’s countrywide youth strategy for the forthcoming elections.
Chairman of the GYSM, Christopher Jones said that it was time for the youths to take a stand against the PPP administration. He pledged that the GYSM would be at the forefront of the election campaign and urged those present to become involved via social networking sites and other forms of technology. He said that it was important to get registered during the ongoing Claims and Objections period which ends on June 9. He also called on the youths to guard the polling stations on elections day.
PNCR Leader Robert Corbin, in brief remarks, said that historically the youths have always had an important part to play in the work of the party. He supported Granger’s candidature saying that while as a young member of the GYSM, Granger displayed “exemplary skills. I feel confident that David Granger has the capacity to give the leadership to this country and represent the ideals of young people in Guyana.”
Yesterday’s convention also featured a panel discussion, group discussions, cultural presentations and an “ice breaker” in which local comedian ‘Chubby’ presented material that was inappropriate and off-colour, some of it targeting women and some targeting President Bharrat Jagdeo. There was no attempt by anyone at the head table, to have the comedian deviate from the lewd line he was taking. It was not until after he had exited the stage that Jones, in what appeared to be an attempt at a disclaimer, said the party respected all persons especially women folk.
The convention was followed by a march from Congress Place to the East/West Roxanne Burnham junction where a rally was held.
