African youth from different political organisations in their respective nations exchange opinions on how to learn from each other to help prevent and mitigate electoral and political violence.
This takes place at the Third Annual Youth Summer School Academy 2019 in Kigali, on the subject ‘Youth Contribution to the Prevention and Mitigation of Electoral and Political Violence in African countries’.
Seven representatives from each nation are from Guinea Conakry, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Ghana and Zimbabwe’s main ruling and opposition parties.
One of the attendees, Ewald Quaye Garr, the manager of political parties at the Institute of Democratic Governance in Accra, Ghana, said Rwanda was an illustration to other nations of how they were able to address the difficulties they had 25 years earlier.
“They (Rwandans) learned from their culture, what they had. Other countries should also look within and see what they have in their culture, their values to design the free world and contribute to reducing political violence,” he said.
Meanwhile, the event is being held at the Lemigo Hotel in Kigali, jointly organized by the National Consultative Forum of Political Organizations (NFPO), the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) and the African Union (AU).
Rwanda Cooperation Initiative CEO, Louis Antoine Muhire said the main challenge facing Africa is that its people do not understand their values and culture.
The cost of this, he says, is ignorance of our values and culture that leads to confusion.
He adds that they end up becoming engaged in violence when people are confused.
“If you don’t understand where you came from, things will not be positive. You will not even know where you are going.”
Meanwhile, in mitigating acts of violence, some think in youth engagement and inclusion as well as in policy execution among others.
Christine Mukabunani, NFPO spokesperson at the opening of the workshop on Monday, observed that NFPO was institutionalized as a continuous platform for political dialogue, agreement and national cohesion.
“We believe youth cadres from African countries are the future political leaders,” she said.
She added that, “Countries may have well written laws, policies and programs, but the most important thing is their implementation and the commitment of leadership and all citizens to achieve tangible result.”
Ambassador Salah Hammad, African Union (AU) Secretariat Head of African Governance Architecture (AGA), said the AU has implemented a number of standards to guarantee youth participation in democratic processes and urged young people to be crucial in them.
“The Africa we want cannot be built without active youth participation,” he said.
Maurice Mboula Jean-Claude, senior IDEA Africa Program Officer, said Africa’s youth population as of 2019 is nearly 1.32 billion.
He noted that this gives the continent’s peace and development agenda opportunities and challenges.
“We are asking them to draft their national youth-led strategies to prevent electoral and political violence. This is the first time that we are bringing together youth from different parties; ruling parties, opposition, militias to discuss the root cause of the problem,” he said.
Meanwhile, in the present calendar year, 2019 and national political dynamics, each nation is chosen with a criterion for having upcoming elections.
Some of the prevalent factors youth say may lead them to engage in electoral and political violence are unemployment or underemployment, elevated politics monetization, under-representation, winner-taking-all-system, restricted civic education, failed political commitments, and power misunderstanding, among others.