By Sabina Elago
Groot Aub– Youth Election Drive, designed to mobilise Namibian’s youth to register before March 2 during the first phase of the ongoing registration process, and then actively take part in this November’s Presidential and General Election was an inspiration to the youth here.
The Stopwaiting campaign is a nation-wide campaign comprising of radio, television and print adverts, debates and talk shows, smss, social media and major events campaigns. The campaign has been organised by the National Youth Council (NYC) in conjunction with the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) and the Ministry of Youth, National Service, Sport and Cultural and it was launched at Groot Aub where about 50 young people registered to vote. Nineteen- year-old Garibaltie Gaoeb says this campaign is an inspiration to him and to the youth here to register as this type of campaign never happened in their place. “It is good to see this happening here,” he says.
Gaoeb adds that registering to vote is the right thing to do as this is the only way one has to have a say in the country. “Registering to vote is the only way I will call myself a Namibian citizen with a voice, as I will vote for the leader of my choice,” Gaoeb determines. For Wessel Rooinasie this is a good opportunity for him to register to vote as they find it hard to get to registration points. “It’s hard to go to town to register as we do not have transport, so this campaign really cut our cost,” delights the 18-year- old Rooinasie. Christelda Mukoko who is equally happy to register for the first time says it feels good to register, and mostly because the campaign has been launched in their town, as not much happen there. “We do not get chances to go to town to register, and not much of the inspiration is given to us like we are getting it now. So this is a once-in-a-while thing and we are grateful,” she says.
The NYC together with the ECN will host various road shows across the country to encourage young people to actively take part in the registration process. These road shows will visit communities that have a history of low voter and low registration turnouts amongst the youth. Part of the campaign will entail hosting a major youth registration event with local artists and celebrities to further encourage young people to register.