Dear Editor,

One of the most popular fairy tales gave us a most interesting question that I insist on utilising with a tweak to add a bit of lightness.

As the fairy tale goes, an evil queen had a magical mirror that she enchanted to ensure that she was the most beautiful in all the land. To activate the mirror’s power she every so often chanted, “Mirror, mirror on the wall, whose the fairest of them all?” And the mirror would reply.

Allow me to introduce a Jamaican patios rendition of the chant, it goes: “Mirrow, Mirrow inna di Pauliment, hoo yuh tink is the most irrelevant relic af dem all?” And the mirror replies, “Any numbah can play, Sah!”

The mirror would have a hard time pinpointing any single member of this current Parliament, with many of them constantly proving their irrelevance by presiding over mismanaged assets, projects and practically destroying lives, like many of the Finsac survivors can relate.

These “relics” have long been in cruise mode, having reached their professional limits with all the assurance of being re-elected and being granted a seat by the curry goat and beer supporters.

We continue to discuss whether or not elected representatives should be limited in the number of terms they can serve.

We must also seek to reach out to the youth leaders within our communities and encourage them to be a part of the process; if not a party candidate, an independent. We the youth must avail ourselves of the opportunities that lie within the political and governance process. It may be tainted, which makes participation unsavoury for most young people, but we must push through. It’s disappointing that the youth arms from both parties continue to display nothing but their willingness to a part of the problem and not the solution. We independent youth, especially those with political aspirations, should stop seeking validity from political parties, but rather create our own importance by representing the voices of the youth in such away that the powers that be will take note of our influence.

Mario Boothe

m.raphael.b@gmail.com