Young people have been encouraged to perform their civic duty and register to vote, and the over 700 cadets from the National Youth Service (NYS) have done their part.
From a cohort of 750 registered recruits, 740 have registered to vote in the upcoming Presidential and National Assembly elections, slated for November this year. The remaining 10 recruits, unfortunately, could not register due to being under the legal voting age of 18 years, according to George Celestino, NYS manager for National Youth Training at Henties Bay.
He emphasised the importance of civic education during the six-month training programme.
“We invited representatives from the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) and the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (MICT) to educate our recruits about civic duties, nationhood and the significance of voting,” he said.
Celestino said that the training not only focuses on physical and technical skills, but also instils values of patriotism and active citizenship.
In addition, the institution is fostering civic engagement and participation in the upcoming presidential elections.
“We encouraged our recruits about the importance of voting, and why their participation in the upcoming elections matters… For the youth, or indeed for any citizen to make a difference, they must participate in the democratic process,” he said.
The NYS is a government institution that trains youth in national training and civil duties.
ECN spokesperson De Wet Siluka said from 318 311 of those who have registered, 118 698 are younger than 35 years. Thus, 49% of the youth have registered to vote.
“The ECN is actively reaching out to unregistered youth through targeted voter and civic education campaigns using various media platforms, including social media, radio shows and community outreach programmes. We are also working with our stakeholders such as political parties, community and church leaders, civil society, and other organisations to educate young people on the importance of voting, and how and where they can register to vote,” he said.
ECN has employed youth ambassadors in all 14 regions in an effort to get young people to register to vote. The recently-crowned second runner-up for Miss Teen International, Oriana Ribeiro, has been appointed as ECN’s lead youth ambassador to assist in carrying out youth-targeted voter education activities. Siluka said ECN acknowledges there is a gap between the number of registered youth in comparison to the total youth population in the country.
To bridge this gap, he said they have established registration points at institutions of higher learning and other accessible places, as well as implementing mobile voter registration points to reach youth in remote areas, conducting voter education sessions specifically targeted at young people, and collaborating with youth organisations to encourage voter registration and turnout.
-priscillamukokobi@gmail.com