23 Sep 2013

The Independent Electoral Commission’s (IEC) democracy youth club debates were meant to enhance participation in the electoral process.

The commission’s deputy secretary, Mr Modiegi Tombale said through these clubs, the IEC hoped that the youth would be able to lure othes for better participation in 2014.

He said the clubs were not meant to target elections but to prepare the youth so that when they reach the age of 18, they would be well vested with issues of democracy. He said the commission had observed poor participation of youth during general elections even though the youth were the majority of the population.

Thus, he stressed that the exercise together with youth ambassadors would help lure the youth into active participation in elections. Since the weekend event was a regional competition, Mr Tombale said the intention was to take the competition to national level, where winners in the regional competition would battle out.

Furthermore, Mr Tombale said the youth were the leaders of the country and that it was important to teach them the importance of protecting democracy and good governance that this country had enjoyed in the past years. He said they should also understand that this country had come a long way with ensuring democracy and peace.

He said other countries lived in turmoil adding that the youth were fortunate to have a country like Botswana as such should protect its democracy. Mr Tombale thanked teachers for their commitment in the exercise saying that without their input it would not have been a success.

Fifteen secondary schools in the central region debated different motions on democracy and the best school walked away with a computer, which will be used for research by the democracy youth club. Ends