Lae youths want less candidates

Lae News, Normal
Source:

The National, Tuesday 24th January 2012

By GABRIEL LAHOC
A GROWING youth movement in Lae wants to see fewer number of candidates in the general election.
Made up of young people from the Miles areas, Backroad, East and West Taraka, Bumbu and Eriku, the group, which is not aligned to any political party, said the movement was formed this month to promote their views.
Spokesman John Tima, from the Miles area, said no one had seriously taken the views of youth into consideration for over 20 years.
“What the youth population now wants is their own sustainable projects they can concentrate on and benefit from,” he said.
Youth representatives from the residential areas held a press conference in Lae. They want the best five leaders in the city to make known their intentions for voters to judge.
There were 30 candidates in the 2007 election.
“We discourage candidates who have other motives and goals, we want new leaders who have vision and practical plans for the youth,” Tima said.
The youths said the failure to prioritise and involve the youth population saw frustration build up over a long period of time, resulting in the ethnic uprising that was led by the youths of Morobe.
They said they would support leaders who had practical plans in place for the youths and pointed out former Lae candidate Michael Baduwi as one of the preferred candidates.
When Baduwi was contacted in Port Moresby, he confirmed his intention to contest the Lae open seat again.
He said the youth were an important group of people who had to be prioritized. 
He said some of his policies when contesting the past three elections under the People’s National Congress party had been realized and implemented by the Peter O’Neill regime.