THE PNPYO, the youth arm of the ruling People’s National Party, proposed yesterday that more young people (under age 30) be put as candidates in national and municipal elections, saying Jamaica’s youth population accounts for more that 60 per cent of the electorate.

The group said the proposal, which it presented yesterday as part of its policy document, represented the views of more than a 1,000 young people from 10 national organisations across the island.

According to the PNPYO, views of the youngsters were received through a series of islandwide consultations with youth groups, which it said also wanted to see both political parties appoint two senators from amongst the youth population.

Andrew O’Kola, the chairman of the PNPYO, unveiled the policy document yesterday at the party’s Old Hope Road headquarters, and told journalists that the young people (16-24 age group) who were engaged, wanted more young people in the political process.

“One of the main concerns of the young people was that the political process did not have as many persons who were close enough to their age, who were actively engaged in the process,” O’Kola told the Observer.

The average age of the People’s National Party (PNP) slate of candidates, which is expected to be unveiled this Sunday, is over 45, outside of the legal declaration of who constitutes a youth. The party has been accused by the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) of taking old men out of retirement to run in the upcoming general elections.

The JLP’s Andrew Holness, the MP for St Andrew West Central, may be the youngest parliamentarian, at age 36.

It could not be ascertained if there were younger candidates who would be seeking to represent the JLP as some opted not to reveal their ages in the candidates profiles presented to the party’s annual conference last weekend.

In the meantime, O’Kola said the JLP’s Generation 200 would be consulted, with the hope of jointly developing a youth manifesto, which he hoped would inform policy for any government.

“.What we have here are policy guidelines as advanced by the young people we have met. We will be meeting with the PNP’s manifesto chairman before the week is out to discuss the concerns of the young people,” he told the Observer.

Meanwhile, youths who met at the Jamaica Conference Centre last weekend, have called for a raft of changes to include and involve more of them in the political and governmental decision making process.

They want the G C Foster College of Physical Education to become a university, a further expansion of the Student’s Loan Bureau portfolio, and a reduction of the interest rate of the bureau, with maturity period extended to between 10-15 years. They also want the loan re-payment sum to be representative of the applicants salaries and not a set figure.

Among the other demands of the youths was the creation of a Ministry of Youth Affairs, that comprised a policy division in central government, a youth development centre which serves as an executive agency and a national youth service – serving as a statutory body.

-virtuee@jamaicaobserver.com