UWI students call for change in general election

AS the electorate prepares to head to the polls on April 28, Newsday visited UWI, St Augustine on March 19 to get the opinions of young voters.

With final exams happening in the same month, some felt the timing left them with little opportunity to weigh their options. Still, this does not deter some students’ determination to cast their ballot.

Vani Maharaj, 20, especially expressed her support for the political leader of the Patriotic Front, Mickela Panday.

“She seems really nice, she looks like a good person who has a vision but she needs better support around her. She needs PR, she needs somebody else to boost her up because you don’t really hear a lot about her.”

Her classmate, 19-year-old Shania Lares, agreed.

“She has a plan and she can do it, it’s just that she needs more support and I think that she deserves a better chance. We have been dealing with the same people for too many years and now a lot of them are older and their generation is not very inclined to change. As times change leadership should change as well.

“If young people are the future of the country, I think we should have a say in how it is run. Therefore I think a younger person should come up to the stage because they will have better and fresher ideas. The world is changing, it’s not only about oil and gas anymore, it’s about renewable energy and sustainability and we need somebody that reflects that mindset. And I think the younger generation is willing to give her a chance.”

Despite her enthusiasm, Lares expressed concerns about the nation’s voting tendencies.

“There are some young people who don’t see voting as important. And I think that some people are just going to go back to what they know. A lot of it comes from family too, if it is your family is UNC then you have to vote UNC, and I don’t like that mindset. Your family might have their opinion and that’s fine but you should have your own opinion as well.

“But eventually, over time I think people will open their eyes and realise that they can’t just be voting for the same people over and over.”

Supporting Prime Minister Stuart Young, criminology and criminal justice student Chelsea Davis, 22, seemed enthusiastic about the general election.

“My vote could make the difference between having change in the country or going backwards,” she said.

“People need change and change begins when you take a different route. And I feel like it’s always been Kamla (Persad-Bissessar) and (Dr Keith) Rowley so I think maybe he (Young) could be the answer. Maybe with him there could be room for progress.

”And I think overall we need new members in the parliament. We need to re-evaluate that circle because you can’t find change and growth in the same old places.”

Davis said change especially needs to happen in the way crime is handled in Trinidad and Tobago.

“They need to find the root cause of it, they need to find some way of dealing with it and not by calling a SoE. In my opinion, what did the SoE really do? Yes there were more police patrolling but that’s just a start. What else are we doing?”

Civil engineering student Jaden Walton, who is from Jamaica, suggested that crime could be reduced if the government could better support youths in vulnerable communities.

“A lot of the time it happens because people don’t have any alternatives. Sometimes it’s easier for people to take up a gun or a knife to rob somebody than finding a job. Because they might have already been born in a community like Morvant where crime and poverty are big issues and if employers see their address is in those areas they won’t want to hire them.

“So, if the government could support them in that way then I believe the likelihood of criminality would decrease. Just look at the many studies on the link between crime and poverty.”

Still, Walton dismissed the idea of voting entirely, citing his distaste for politics.

“Had I been Trinidadian, I probably wouldn't vote because the more I learn about politics, the less I want to be involved. A lot of it is about appearances, a lot of it tends to be fabricated and some of the genuine projects that you see happening tends to have a bunch of, as y’all say, bacchanal behind it.

"It’s just for show. So I don’t think I would put energy towards supporting somebody who doesn’t plan to support me."