“I am young and educated, and I’m politically disenfranchised. When I graduated from the University last year, I thought that I would assume certain social responsibility. But the conventional political system of Somaliland including the parties can’t give chance to me.” This is a statement which had shockingly grasped my attention and made me gaze at my friend while he was telling me about his personal feelings and chronicles.
Today, the youth in Somaliland are shackled from the decisions intended to shape their future. A clear proof is the lack of substantial number of seats in the government. Though youth are the largest segment of this country’s citizens, but they are only used as a ladder to get the public office chairs once they only vote but not voted for them. In short, they vote and then wait a response from the one they elected.
However, one might ask his or her self the reason behind this unjust exclusion of the youth from the platforms where their destiny is shaped. My personal view in response to this question as an author of the article is that the first reason is youth are legally marginalized!
In fact, the constitution of Somaliland has clearly assured the fundamental right of ‘to-vote-and to-be-voted-for’ though it limits the eligibility age of candidacy for the parliamentarian, ministerial and presidential posts. Sternly! The electoral laws are harsher as they even pose obstacles which the constitution does not.
The age required to be a city councilor is not limited by the constitution. It is limited by the municipal electoral act which is known as the ‘Law No. 20’. Being under 35 years of age, you are not eligible to run for local council elections.
Imagine when you are so ambitious to contribute to your country, wanting to be part of the national leadership and you are not allowed to be an MP, a minister, a vice minister, a party leader and even a local councilor just because you are youthful in age wise. Apart from the legal barrier, the second reason why youth are put on the margins is the cultural attitude. For instance, back in the traditional context, the youth role was only confined to spheres of laboring for their families by rearing the livestock, fetching water from the wells and serving as clan’s defending warriors in times of conflict with enemies but was totally excluded from the leadership role and the space to give their opinions on family’s issues. Youth were perceived as not contributive to the clan interest and community leadership.
Moreover, they were seen as immature and unstable people who were lacking the leadership skills and knowledge—an attitude which hampered their energy for innovativeness and industriousness impelling them to be doomed and ill-fated.
Let all what was mentioned above be an introductory point for the reader to be aware of what prompted youth to stand up for removing all barriers and attempting to promote youth participation in all levels of policy and decision-making processes. The central theme of this article is on answering to the question of “Will the halfway success towards youth political participation be the turning point that we all having been dreaming on?”
Under the leadership of the Somaliland National Youth Umbrella (SONYO), the youth had recently achieved what they called as the ‘halfway successes when the House of Representatives (HoR) overwhelmingly approved the amendment of Law No. 20. This paves the way for the youth to participate in the upcoming local councils. The amended law allows the youth of 25 years of age and above to run for the local councils—a tremendous reduction of the previous age requirement by ten years.
However, attempting to persuade the law-makers was not an easy job because it took eight long years for this exertion to turn out a historic triumph. Noticeably, this success is not yet fully realized unless the House of Guurti (HoG) ratifies the amended law by the HoR and proceeds to the signature of the president for its enforcement.
If this success is fully realized (as I am pretty hopeful it will be) the ball will be in the court of Somaliland youth. Because the removal of the legal margins and other impediments is merely the strategic means of ensuring young people are in the decision-making arena particularly in the local councils but rather what they will contribute to these public offices is still in question! Absolutely there is a long mile for the youth to lead up to a positive change.
In conclusion, to stand proudly in front of the people and praise the potential of our youth can only come when they show up that they are a power to reckon on and work on bringing the real change they are expected from. And this can be reached if the youth who are to be members in the future local councils become more competent, contributive, visionary and accountable to their constituencies than their elderly predecessors which I am optimistic that youth will be much better and will prove more useful and productive. But in order for the youth to succeed in their political and community leadership careers, they need to unite and stick to the principles of responsibility and accountability coupled with a strong sense of patriotism and allegiance to their nation.
In a nutshell, if the youth continue to be visionaries and forthright, their participation in the coming local councils will bring about the change we were dreaming on!
SONYO Executive Director