Young people are growing up in the shadow of a climate crisis and global conflict, amid sky-high housing costs and a precarious economy. For decades, government spending and policies have also been skewed in favour of older people. Yet in Australia, young people don’t get to vote until they are 18.
While the idea of lowering the voting age has come up before, there is now renewed interest in allowing 16-year-olds to vote at the state and territory levels.
We need the voting age put on the national agenda in Australia as well. This 2022 federal election should be the last election to exclude 16 and 17-year-olds.
There has not yet been a vote, but a Liberal-chaired parliamentary inquiry last month recommended the bill not be passed.
Last month, the NSW Greens similarly announced another bill, which would lower the voting age to 16 in that state by permitting, but not requiring 16-year-olds to vote.
What about other countries?
This is not the first time lowering the voting age has come up in Australia.
In 1973, during the Whitlam government, federal parliament lowered the minimum voting age from 21 to 18. In 2015, then Labor leader Bill Shorten pledged to lower the voting age to 17 or 16. In 2018, the Greens also proposed voluntary voting rights for those aged 16 and 17, which resulted in a senate inquiry but no change.
Many democracies around the world have lowered the voting age to 16.Darren England/AAP
This is not a hypothetical concept. Many countries have lowered the voting age, including Argentina, Brazil and Ecuador who also have compulsory voting.
In the 1990s, 16-year-olds were given the vote in Switzerland as well as in some German states. In 2007, Austria adopted a voting age of 16 for most purposes. Brazil lowered the voting age from 18 to 16 in 1988 and Malta in 2018.
Scotland’s voting age is 16 for local and national parliament elections. The Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey reduced the voting age to 16 for local elections in 2015. Cuba, Greece, Indonesia, Israel, North Korea, Nicaragua, and South Sudan, have a voting age of 17.
And if you think 16 is young, there is even debate among political scientists on the merits of lowering to voting age to as low as six.
Encouraging young people to vote
Research shows there are many benefits in lowering the voting age.
Giving young people the vote will encourage them to register and turn up to vote on election day. In the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, 16 and 17-year-olds voted at rates as high or higher than their 18 to 20-year-old peers.
This suggests lowering the voting age is part of the solution to the growing distrust in western governments, falling voter turnout and declining membership of political organisations.
Political buy-in
Being able to vote also means having direct democratic influence.
Politicians and others will be more inclined to visit the settings that matter for young people, including schools and higher education venues, and listen to their opinions, if young people are on the electoral roll. In turn, the experience of being recognised and having your views and interests taken into account can build confidence and trust in formal politics.
Younger people voting will see politicians take them - and their views - more seriously.Mick Tsikas/AAP
The fear that giving 16-year-olds the vote will affect election outcomes might explain major parties’ resistance to doing this. Certainly in Britain, the 2019 general election saw an unexpected influx of new young voters, leading some to talk about “youthquake”.
Ageism at play
Much of the opposition to reducing the voting age depends on ageism and the idea young people lack sufficient moral judgement, cognitive ability or life experience to vote responsibly.
But there is plenty of research showing 16 year-olds have sufficient ethical and cognitive capacities to form political judgements.
We also know that by 16 you can do paid work, pay tax, enlist in the military, drive a car, consent to confidential health care and be charged with criminal offences.
The least we can do
Democracies have always been strengthened when more people are allowed to vote, from men without property to women, to Indigenous people and then those under 21.
It would be exactly the same if younger people were allowed to enrol and vote.
At the same time, lower the voting age acknowledges the national and global crises that young people are experiencing and will inherit.
Supporting the vote for young people who, by definition, have the greatest at stake in the political process, is the least that older generations can do to redress this imbalance.
Johannesburg — A South African college student was sentenced to prison this week for going on a months-long spending spree with almost a million dollars of student aid dumped into her bank account due to a clerical error. With her hands folded defiantly in court, former second year accounting student Sibongile Mani was sentenced to five years in prison Wednesday for stealing the funds from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme.
A clerical error meant instead of a $96 monthly food allowance being deposited into her account, close to $1 million was transferred on June 1, 2017.
Judge Twanette Olivier found Mani guilty of stealing the funds and slapped her with the prison sentence, and a stunning admonishment.
“You, and yourself, made the decision on June 1, 2017, and you did so repeatedly for 73 consecutive days, numerous times per day,” the judge told Mani in court.
Mani spent close to $1,000 a day on handbags, alcohol and clothing, racking up charges across the country before the fund noticed the error on August 13 and reported her.
Other students from Walter Sisulu University claim they blew the whistle on Mani’s scheme after growing suspicious of the sudden change in her lifestyle. They said she transformed suddenly into a glamorous woman with an expensive weave, a new iPhone and a penchant for expensive whiskey.
The judge said Mani had “malicious intent,” adding that it was remarkable how much money Mani had managed to spend each day at 48 different stores across the country.
A video making rounds online has shown moment a policeman was confronted by a prostitute he assaulted after refusing to pay her after she slept with him.
The lady who spoke to a passerby who intervened after seeing her with bruises and a swollen face, said the policeman asked for her service but after having his way with her, he refused to give her the initial amount they agreed, leading to a heated argument.
She revealed that the police officer assaulted her after seeing that she wouldn't allow him go without paying her.
On the evening of 15 February 2022, reports emerged that key police and military officials in Djibouti were put under house arrest, reportedly amid fears of a coup d’état.
This was the latest in the string of successful and attempted coups in Africa – from Mali to Madagascar and Guinea to the Central African Republic (CAR).
The popularity of some of the coups, combined with the perceived inability of the African Union (AU) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to stem the tide of democratic reversals and insecurity, has generated a crisis that calls for a fundamental rethinking of the values, role, mandate, capacity and resources of these institutions.
Since its last in-person summit in early 2020 (they met virtually in 2021) there have been successful military coups in Mali (twice), Chad, Guinea, Burkina Faso, and Sudan, and attempted coups in Madagascar, CAR, Niger, Guinea Bissau, and possibly in Djibouti.
The continent also witnessed constitutional coups where incumbents manipulated the constitutional framework to extend their terms. This happened in Guinea and Cote d’Ivoire(2020). In Tunisia the incumbent president governs through decrees, without any institutional checks on his power.
And in northern Mozambique, a rebellion rooted in government neglect and sense of dispossession metamorphosed into an Islamist insurgency. Hundreds of thousands have been displaced and the country’s security forces have been overwhelmed.
Enduring instability in South Sudan, Libya and Somalia have made little progress. Here too the AU has largely been on the sidelines, despite its military presence in Somalia.
Each of these occurrences has a unique context. Nevertheless, they are broadly linked to a democratic deficit and governments’ inability to deliver either freedom or peace and development. These failure of nominally elected governments has denied leaders – as well as the democratic system – a vanguard popular constituency.
On top of this, the COVID-19 pandemic has decimated the economic gains of the last decade. This has left behind an avalanche of unemployed youth, and worsened the public debt burden of virtually all countries. In turn this has deprived incumbents of economic rents they could deploy to appease the public and co-opt and silence key civilian and military officials.
The structural conditions that have made the coups and insecurity in the various countries possible obtain in a large majority of African countries. Moreover, the successes and apparent popularity of some of the coups have set a precedent that may inspire copycats.
But, an impoverished, insecure and coup-prone Africa is not inevitable. In fact, the continent continues to witness the resilience of democracy in Malawi and Zambia, among other countries.
Addressing the ailments and setting on a path to peace, freedom and sustainable development requires two key things. Firstly, a mental paradigm shift. Secondly, bold moves to accelerate the continent’s economic, security and political integration.
From rejection to introspection
Both the AU and ECOWAS have rejected the military coups. The AU has suspended four countries in a year, the highest since its formation in 2002. For its part ECOWAS is operating without 20% of its membership. Three of its 15 member states suspended. In addition it’s imposed crippling sanctions on Mali following a second coup and failure to agree an acceptable transition timeline.
But the AU hasn’t been wholly consistent. For example, it didn’t suspend Chad after an effective military takeover in the country. Instead, it put preconditions for a relatively quick transition, national dialogue and exclusion of transition leaders from standing for election.
It has remained largely silent on Tunisia too despite anti-democratic developments there.
ECOWAS has been acting according to the books on military coups. Nevertheless it failed to publicly criticise the constitutional coups in Guinea and Cote d’Ivoire.
These inconsistencies have bred accusations of hypocrisy. Some have gone as far as accusing the two institutions of merely serving as protection for their club of incumbents.
If the AU and ECOWAS want to be taken seriously, they must look inwards and stand up for constitutional democracy, regardless of the perpetrators – whether incumbents or men in military fatigue.
And here, they have an opportunity to redeem themselves through some quick wins.
Current presidents of Senegal (Macky Sall) and Benin (Patrice Salon) are serving their second and last terms. Nevertheless, there are concerns that they are resorting to democratically questionable manoeuvres. And that they may even be considering a constitutional manoeuvre to stay in power.
The AU and ECOWAS should proactively engage these leaders and secure public commitments that they will step down after the end of their terms, and continue the nascent legacy of their countries in peaceful alternation of power.
From crisis to opportunity?
The sense of crisis must spur the AU and ECOWAS into action. The ECOWAS Heads of State and Government have tasked the ECOWAS Commission to expedite the process of reviewing the Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance. This is a chance to strengthen ECOWAS’ capacity to respond to incumbent constitutional and electoral manipulations. This could include re-tabling the region-wide two term limit on presidents that it abandoned in 2015.
The AU should similarly enhance its capabilities to check unconstitutional changes of government as well as the undemocratic exercise and retention of power.
And it should accelerate its institutional reform drive. Notably, it must work towards boosting the Peace Fund. A well-supported fund would allow the AU to prevent political instability from degenerating into large scale conflict and insurgency.
The experiences of the coordinated responses to the insurgency in northern Mozambique, involving soldiers from the Southern African Development Community and Rwandan forces, could provide an important prototype. This must include measures to address the root causes of governance deficit, exclusion and wanton exploitation of natural resources.
In the long term, the AU, ECOWAS and other regional economic communities should strengthen security and economic integration. This would go some way to ensuring that nascent democracies deliver freedom as well as stability and a steady improvement of peoples’ economic fortunes.
Regional organisations should also boost their anti-corruption mechanisms and address problems of mismanagement of resources.
Ultimately, the primary responsibility for stability, prosperity and freedom lies at the national level. But if African leaders desire the protection of the AU, ECOWAS and other sub-regional communities, they must strengthen these institutions.
The ambitious mandate and expectations of these institutions must be matched with perquisite tools, power and resources. Incumbent safety may lie in sharing power: horizontally by addressing the curse of winner-takes-all politics at the domestic level through inclusion of the opposition in governance; and vertically by empowering regional and sub-regional organisations.
Africans must, of course, be the masters of their destiny. But external partners such as the United Nations, US and China should support efforts to enhance the continent’s stability and economic progress.
The views and opinions expressed in the article are the sole responsibility of the author and are not endorsed by any of the institutions he is affiliated with.
Young players train with Cameroon star striker Vincent Aboubakar who plays for Saudi Professional League club Al Nassr. DANIEL BELOUMOU OLOMO/AFP via Getty Images
When Sadio Mané scored the decisive penalty to secure Senegal’s triumph over Egypt at the Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon, Isaak, a professional Ghanaian footballer in his late 20s, could not have been further away from the action. Watching the final online in his room in eastern Thailand, Isaak’s thoughts most likely turned to what might have been had he managed to better navigate some critical forks in the road of his football career.
Isaak is one of several dozen African players we interviewed for our new book African Football Migration. Their experiences and trajectories reflect the reality of life for the majority of African footballers who aspire to successful careers overseas – but frequently labour far beyond the bright lights of the elite game enjoyed by icons like Mané.
Football migration
Migration has long been an important livelihood strategy in many African countries. Migrating through football has more recently come to be viewed by increasing numbers of young people as a viable route to significantly improving their life chances.
This trend is a consequence of multiple intersecting factors, ranging from economic precarity, a declining faith in education and a weak local football industry. The commercialisation of football economies in Europe and some Asian countries over the last 30 years has made them prized destinations for aspiring African migrant footballers.
Thousands of African talents have tried to follow in the footsteps of iconic footballers such as Michael Essien, Samuel Eto’o, Mané and Mohamed Salah. However, for most the chance of succeeding is minimal.
Our ethnographic fieldwork in Africa, Europe and South-East Asia alongside numerous conversations with young footballers, parents, coaches, club owners and intermediaries reveals the precarious structures and career trajectories that characterise African football migration. How these young players navigate uncertainty and failure as they try to make it big overseas is reflected in Isaak’s story.
Isaak’s story
Isaak’s prospects looked hopeful at first. In 2012, he was a talented midfielder playing for Ghana’s national U-17 team, the Black Starlets. This enhanced his visibility and the chance of a contract with a club abroad. Through the Black Starlets he encountered a Ghanaian footballer and player agent based in Thailand, who promised him trials with professional clubs in the South-East Asian country.
Isaak believed this would be a stepping stone to a prestigious league in Europe, despite having no prior knowledge of Thailand or its football industry. He was reassured by his agent that necessary arrangements and logistics had been taken care of. All that was required was for him to reimburse the agent for his initial financial outlay and services once he signed for a Thai club.
Isaak’s parents and elder brother were supportive, seeing an opportunity to secure the family’s livelihood. Shortly after the Thai authorities issued a three-month tourist visa, Isaak boarded a plane to Bangkok with six other Ghanaian players promised similar deals. The agent picked them up from the airport and brought them to their rented accommodation. It soon became clear the promised trials had not been organised. As Isaak saw it:
Everything was a lie … Seven players in a small room. No windows, no air condition(ing), nothing. I was the youngest, so I had to sleep on the floor … There was nowhere to go, so we stayed in the room all day. At times, no food for me for the whole day … I was really suffering.
Precarious trajectories
This sort of experience is not uncommon among migrating African footballers. Many encounter fraud, disillusionment, racism and economic hardship as they pursue a professional contract in South-East Asia, Europe or elsewhere. A litany of media reports detailing instances of trafficking and exploitation attests to this.
However, despite their struggles, African migrant players, including Isaak, rarely give up on their dream. Rather, they retain a belief that hard work, talent, luck, persistence and for some, divine intervention, will secure their and their family’s futures.
Ten years after his move to Thailand, Isaak remained in the game. He had established himself in the lower reaches of the Thai game, playing for various clubs in third- and fourth-tier divisions. His career continued to be highly precarious and uncertain. Contracts were always short-term and his salary just enough to get by and occasionally send some money home.
In 2020/21 COVID-19 resulted in the termination of his contract. Nonetheless, Isaak continued to view his career as a launching pad for Europe. A route to social mobility was restored with a new contract after the recommencement of Thailand’s third division. Like so many other African migrant footballers, Isaak will likely continue to labour and invest his physical capital in pursuit of a dream that’s unlikely to be realised.
A persistent dream
It is these intersecting aspirations, experiences and trajectories in the life courses of young African males that we unpack in African Football Migration. The book illustrates that the ability to navigate an unpredictable, highly competitive and commercialised industry is a key asset for African players. An embodied belief in their abilities to succeed and the need to make their migration project valuable for themselves and others frequently mitigates the disillusionment and setbacks faced abroad. Staying in the game and keeping the hope of ‘making it’ alive gives meaning to their struggle, regardless of how precarious it may be.
Manchester University Press
In the context of global inequality and restrictive migration regimes, it is likely that young African footballers will continue to see a career in the professional game overseas as a viable future path.
Our book reveals they are well aware of the pitfalls, barriers and imponderables that characterise this path. However, they press on regardless, exhibiting remarkable creativity and resilience as they cultivate a dream to follow in the footsteps of Sadio Mané and others who ‘made it’ against all odds.
The woman, Nonye Josephine Ezeanyaeche says she has good plans to be executed in Nigeria should she be voted in as President.
Nonye Josephine Ezeanyaeche, a woman aged 102 has declared her intentions to contest for Nigerian President in 2023.
The woman says she has good plans to be executed in Nigeria should she be voted in as President.
Ezeanyaeche, who is also called ‘living legend’ or “Mama Africa’, hails from Aguata, Anambra state and is the founder of the ‘Voice for Senior Citizens of Nigeria’ group.
During a recent visit to the Management team of the Nigerian Television Authority, NTA, she expressed readiness to contest for the number one position if the younger generations of the country are not ready.
Caro Nwosu, president of the group quoted Ezeanyaeche as saying, “If Nigerians are shying away from political participation, she says she is ready to contest. She has already prepared a manifesto for herself; she has the vision. If the good ones don't come out to contest…”
The aged woman acknowledged the Nwosu's statement as she said in Igbo, “If you have a male or female child, try to train them to surpass your own achievements.”
She was said to have received many awards for her contributions to humanity and nation-building, including the African Peace Award, 2021.
She joins a long list of individuals who have so far declared interest to run for the position in 2023.
A 35-year-old ex-convict, Onyekachi Alozie and his wife, Oluchi, have been arrested by Imo State Police Command for kidnapping, murdering, and burning the corpse of a 71-year-old man, Chief Precious Okorie.
Parading the suspects, the Imo State Commissioner of Police, Mr Hussain Rabiu disclosed that the deceased was kidnapped on November 12, 2021.
Rabiu said that he ordered the commander of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad, Oladimeji Oyeyiyewa, and his operatives to swing into action after the family members reported the case.
This led to the arrest of the gang leader, Agubata Maxwell Chimezie known as“the boss” on December 10, 2021. While Oluchi was arrested on December 20, her husband was picked up on January 10, 2022 in Owerri.
Alozie, who was said to have allegedly masterminded the kidnapping and murder of Okorie, took the police operatives to the forest where they saw the burnt body of the deceased.
The Police said that the operatives recovered the late Okorie’s car, a Toyota Camry from the workshop of an auto painter where the gang leader went to repaint and later sold it for N1million.
“They blindfolded Okorie, took him to their den in the forest where they collected his Toyota car and ATM card and withdrew N3.5 million from his account,”Oyeyiyewa said
Upon interrogation, Alozie confessed to the alleged kidnapping of the Chief after his wife told him she was having a sexual affair with him.
“I’m an electrician by profession but went into armed robbery and kidnapping. I was at the Nigeria Correction Centre twice for kidnapping cases. I was detained at the Nigeria Correction Centre after I was arrested and prosecuted by DSS operatives in 2018 but discharged by an Nkwerre High Court and released from prison in 2021.
“When I was at the Nigeria Correction Centre, my wife Oluchi was visiting me and bringing food. I did not suspect her with late Chief Okorie. She only told me Okorie was a Good Samaritan. Then one day, I overheard their conversation on phone, where Okorie was saying he was eager to see my wife. I was angry and forced my wife to call the deceased to see her in the hotel.
“My wife confessed to me that she’s been having a sexual relationship with the 71-year-old man in the hotel.
“I threatened to kill my wife, and so she called him back and told him to wait for her in the hotel. I then arranged for him to be kidnapped. My gang leader, Agubata Chimezie a.k.a “the boss” kidnapped Chief Okorie in his car and took him to the forest. I demanded a ransom of N20million but the family members paid only N1.5m as ransom,” he said.
He confessed that he was given N290,000 from the proceeds of the car sales but has no knowledge of how the gang members killed late Chief Okorie and burnt his dead body.
“It was some of our gang members who did the job. They did not give me any share from the N1.5m ransom collected from the deceased’s family members, they promised to give me my share the second time that they were demanding another ransom from the deceased’s family member,” the suspect confessed.
A young Nigerian businessman identified as Zubby More was discovered dead in a hotel room in Anambra state.
It was gathered that he lodged at the hotel on January 13 after he attended an event in Amichi. However, the circumstances surrounding his death have prompted his friends to call for a thorough investigation.
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One of his friends, Nnaemeka Ikerionwu, in a Facebook post said that Zubby was reportedly found dead the next morning and the management of the hotel took him to the morgue without informing his family.
Ikerionwu further revealed that the family only got to know about the death when they launched a search when he didn’t return home the following day, and were told that he died in his hotel room and had been taken to a morgue.
The family went to the morgue and found out that his testicles were missing. They confronted the hotel staff and were told that the deceased died after he slipped on the bathroom tiles.
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