Unemployed youth, BDP's nightmare
Ryder Gabathuse | Friday May 17, 2019 12:57
FRANCISTOWN: Regardless of their level of education, unemployed youth could be a time bomb waiting to explode in an elections year.
Whilst the national unemployment rate is estimated at about 17% , the national youth unemployment rate is a bit higher. It stands at about 25% with a high number of graduates thrown into the streets as jobless as the country’s economy experiences a jobless growth.
It has become common cause that opposition politicians in particular tend to bring the ruling party and the unemployed young people against each. In the mind of the opposition parties, the predicament of Botswana’s somewhat forgotten young people lies in the ruling party.
The situation reaches its worst position in the year of the general election traditionally billed for October. Youth unemployment has become topical and a hot potato of some kind.
Within the opposition circles, the story of the suffering of the unemployed youth has been replayed enough for all to hear and comprehend. Unemployment has even become a bait for votes as opposition politicians canvass for support from the masses.
Whilst government is perceived to be currently hellbent on appeasing the army, the general civil service and the politicians amongst others by increasing their salaries, the job creation aspect has not taken centre stage in terms of priorities. It is a forgotten project, observers say.
In some quarters, there is an opinion to the effect that a likelihood exists that the manner in which the BDP is moving slowly to address the troubles bedevilling the young people could backfire in future when the youth assert their position through a vote.
But to justify that the BDP-led government is dealing with the problem, party spokesperson, Kagelelo Kentse explained that if there are any set of priorities for transformation under the Masisi, the youth are at the top of the list.
“Even the party pledges or recently launched manifesto, the youth is at the top and President Mokgweetsi Masisi has started addressing town hall meetings and he is still going to address such meetings and show the youth where opportunities lie,” Kentse said this week.
Masisi ‘s obsession lies in what Kentse terms knowledge-based economy where proper research would be done to determine the direction to be taken in assisting the young people now and in the future.
He was steadfast that Masisi has started the journey of job creation and as such policies that would encourage people to come and invest in our shores and in the process creating jobs, would formulated.
For an example, one of the President’s emphases is that whilst entrepreneurship should he encouraged to create jobs, implementation and monitoring of government policies towards empowering youth should be done in strict terms.
“What you will have to appreciate is that the BDP-led government has done a lot from nothing in its economy to a middle-income economy today. True, today the economy is just flat and struggling to create more new jobs.”
Meanwhile, Spokesperson for the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) Moeti Mohwasa blamed the BDP government for failing to create jobs for the youth, saying they (youth) are not easily absorbed by the labour market.
“The number of unemployed youth groups have been piling one over the other as there are no new opportunities in the market whilst the job market is overcrowded with jobseekers.”
He challenged the BDP-led government to create more and more job opportunities so that trained and skilled youth could play a role in the development of the country.
In his view, the Botswana government under the BDP has a history of failure to empower the young people so that they can easily be absorbed into the job market.
“Even with schemes and policies designed to empower the youth, there is no one who properly follows up on such programmes with good intentions going to waste in the end,” noted Mohwasa.
She posited that it is difficult to ascertain what role research played in the formulation, implementation and evaluation of the existing Botswana’s National Youth Policy and other programmes.
She further stated that it is not clear whether the rising youth unemployment is a result of failure of the actual policy formulation and implementation.
“The interconnection between research and policy should be seriously looked into, especially in the successful formulation and implementation of policies and programmes.
Monitoring and evaluation frameworks are important in assessing these programmes.
Although some of the programmes have in-built mechanisms, these are not fully utilised. What should also be considered in the success of programmes is the inclusion of the intended beneficiaries in policy formulation and implementation.”
The BDP government since independence has been appeasing public servants at election period, posits another UB lecturer of political and administrative studies, Adam Mfundisi.
He added: “This is not new to the current Masisi administration. All it wants (Masisi-led government) is to garner political support for a short-term political gain.”
In the long run, Mfundisi emphasised that, “public servants will continue to suffer due to socio-economic and political conditions in the country. Botswana is one of the leaders in the world in terms of skewed distribution of wealth and income,” he argued.
He describes the gap between the highly paid and lowly paid public servant as extremely high.
The living standard of the public servants is modest and not reflective of the economic prosperity witnessed in the last decades.
In the midst of plenty there is abject poverty, deprivation, unemployment, diseases, and criminality.
To him, “unemployment is extremely high in Botswana looking at economic advancement we had as a country in the last decades. The BDP socio-economic and political policies have contributed, amongst others, to high unemployment.”
In his view, the youth are the primary target of this unemployment.
“The attitudes and behaviours of the unemployed youth contribute to low registration and turnout at elections.
In Botswana, young people make up more than 50% of the voting population. But, very few young people bother to register and/or turnout for the election is not good to democracy.
“This leads to the disenfranchisement of the youngish population which is more literate and active in society. Young people are agents of change and if they engage in active political participation, political change through the ballot would be possible and desirable.”
Effects of unemployment on political attitudes and behaviour of the youth is contingent on socio - economic status. The youth lack effective organisation and political mobilisation as a result of lack of resources in general.
“The BDP, coming to your concern, cares less about young people who are mostly victims of unemployment and its vestiges,” explained Mfundisi, adding that the ruling party banks on the assumption that young people lack political interests in elections.
“Therefore, it would attract voters from the ageing population comprising the poor and illiterate or semi-literate masses particularly in the rural areas.”
If the voter turnout is high in the 2019 elections, Mfundisi is of the view that that the BDP would lose the elections. His analysis is premised, amongst others on the fact that the ruling party is banks on low voter turnout for it to win the elections.
The BDP strategy as analysed by Mfundisi is to frustrate the most literate and unemployed young people not to participate fully in the electoral process.
Young people, as he has posited are the movers and shakers of the political system in every country.
“If the youth had registered in high numbers and turnout in larger in droves particularly the unemployed youths, the game would be over for the ruling regime.
But, the reality is that the young and the unemployed are disinterested in politics. Furthermore, they are skeptical of the political system.”
In conclusion, the political analyst is adamant that the BDP has never been interested in young people and in particular, unemployed people.
He accused the BDP of caring much about big business indicating that corruption amongst the ruling elite has contributed significantly to the rate of unemployment and societal ills afflicting the general populace.