Questions & Answers revealed for the real people with powers!

HAMID SHEIKH, NEWHAM’S FIRST DEPUTY YOUNG MAYOR in 2007

I have managed to find truth about the office of Young Mayor of Newham. Young people have the right to speak for themselves on how they want their community in Newham to be. This is what used to happen with the old Youth Parliament. It may not have worked perfectly, but at least there was some structure in place to give young people a voice. Now the youth parliament has been scrapped. The only right young people have now is to vote in an annual talent show for a Young Mayor who will make decisions on their behalf. Let me answer Rebecca’s points one by one.

“A democratic election contest for the Young Mayor and Youth Council gives

every young person the opportunity to take part in local decision-making.”
Yes, the Young Mayor elections are fair and democratic. However, the Youth Parliament – an elected assemble of young Newham residents – was a much better system. That was direct democracy. All the young people had full power to express themselves. Having a Young Mayor removes their right to speak for themselves. I don’t agree to having one person to represent all the young people in the borough, elected by a one-off snap popularity poll. The danger is that if the young person occupying this position is speaking to an MP or a minister, he or she won’t have the confidence to stand up for the young people of Newham, unless they are given a script. They can become puppets or hostages.

“Through the Young Mayor’s budget and Youth Opportunity and Youth Capital Funds the Young Mayor and Youth Council have initiated youth-led projects across the borough.” Young people make up half the population of Newham. The Young Mayor’s budget comes to £25,000 – less than one thousandth of the total council budget! If we include the funding from the Youth Opportunity Fund, it is still no more than 1.5%. It is true that the council spends hundreds of millions on education and other youth services – but young people have no say in how that money is spent.

Candidates “campaign to win support from their friends, neighbours, classmates and peers”. Elections should not be a glorified talent show, a popularity poll based on how many friends you have, or block voting by schools and colleges. Does this really

“reinforce our accountability to the community”? There is no way to hold the Young Mayor to account. Once he or she is elected, that’s it. It’s a one-term position, so they never stand for re-election.

Sir Robin Wales talks about “the indifference felt by a small minority of young people towards the 2008 Young Mayor Election”. There are at least 35,000 people aged 11-17 living in Newham. On top of that, there are many more young people who are working or studying in Newham. All of these are eligible to vote. How many actually voted in the Young Mayor election? Even this year, only around 8,000. So who are the “small minority”? The voters or the non-voters?

“Your article quotes election slogans taken out of their original context... These slogans and statements are necessarily inspirational.” Many young people considered these slogans not “inspirational”, but meaningless sound-bites – an insult to their intelligence. Young people in Newham have real problems! None of the manifestos which I read for the Young Mayor in 2009 offered a serious programme on how to tackle youth unemployment, the shortage of college places, lack of free sporting and recreational facilities, or gun and knife crime. Newham’s young people deserve better than an annual game show. They need to get organised!

Click Here to see Angelica Lukauskas's Manifest, now is this achievable? does she have a clue that she is just another poppet of the bigger people with powers out there who are just controlling her?