Young professionals: Challenging leadership

During his visit to Mauritius, the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon advised the youth to challenge the political leadership. Mauritius has always been dominated by the same political parties since Independence in different permutations of alliances. The landscape has time and again seen the same faces implement some form of political dynasties. Is it time for current political leaders to make way for the younger generation? Young professionals and university students debate this issue.

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"17758","attributes":{"class":"media-image wp-image-30185 alignleft","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"180","height":"258","alt":"young-pro-veerendra"}}]]Veerendra Kooshna: “Start small and dream big”

23-year old Veerendra is an audit assistant and he agrees that young people must dare to voice out and ensure they are heard. “The younger generation is accountable towards the social and economic advancement of our country. Challenging the status quo with innovative ideas and our creative potential can help. Yet, we need not make their lives harder. It’s more about working together and growing through our conflicts to come up with better ideas for the prime purpose of our country’s progress.” He believes that this is possible if we start at a micro-level and start by changing ourselves. “Let’s challenge ourselves to be better persons. Let’s be examples for others. Subconsciously, it has been proven by science that we are influenced by our surroundings. Start small and dream big.”

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"17757","attributes":{"class":"media-image wp-image-30184 alignleft","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"201","height":"176","alt":"young-pro-sheina"}}]]Sheina Maudarbaccus: “Empower Mauritian Youth”

20-year old Sheina is attending the University of Mauritius. She affirms that many youngsters have innovative ideas, leadership skills and motivated to work and succeed. “When they challenge their leaders, this may help the leaders to change their actual way of doing business, be more productive, more creative, get to know the potential of young people and bring in more innovation. It can also create a more effective relationship among youngsters, organisations, and the country. It is also important to achieve sustainable human development. However, it may be difficult for young people to challenge leaders because leaders have more power and may sometimes not consider new perspectives.” For her, Mauritius is a democratic country whereby its youngsters are really encouraged to learn, be educated (98.7% of its population is literate) and contribute towards its economy. “The national youth policy (2010) is “to empower the youth of the Republic of Mauritius’’. Thus, this country encourages youth involvement and can hence challenge the leaders to better help the economy. Mauritius also signed the Commonwealth Plan of Action for Youth Empowerment (PAYE) 2006-2015, thus, the Mauritian youth has a better chance to challenge its leaders as youth involvement is valued.”

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"17754","attributes":{"class":"media-image wp-image-30181 alignleft","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"201","height":"264","alt":"young-pro-aadil"}}]]Aadil Jhumka: “Youngsters can develop ideas”

Aadil, 25 years old, is the chairman of an NGO and director of MAAAJ Enterprise. He avers that students learn from teachers and teachers are now learning from students. “Nowadays, we can come to the conclusion that more and more youngsters are becoming smarter than their elders. Youngsters can develop ideas and solve problems easily. To my knowledge, it is possible, as there are many leaders who do not know how to manage their roles. If we want our firms, industries or companies to prosper and to attain the highest level of success and satisfaction, leaders will have to do what is right. Everyone has their rights to voice out their grievances if injustice befalls upon them. Thus, young people should have the courage to stand and confront their leaders. Being called a leader doesn’t mean that the latter can take other people down or even use them in any way. Real leaders should lead the masses of people below them and try to satisfy their needs and also help them in case of difficulties.”

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"17755","attributes":{"class":"media-image wp-image-30182 alignleft","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"206","height":"280","alt":"young-pro-deepaK"}}]]Deepak Maunthrooa: “Challenging elders is not a sign of disrespect”

As an Educator with more than 12 years experience, Deepak strongly believes in empowering young people so that they become independent thinkers and leaders of tomorrow. “Giving additional responsibilities to youngsters during school time, allowing them be active stakeholders during school activities; can enable the fulfilment of the wish expressed by the UN sec-gen. Acting as mere followers will not shape them into the leaders that we await; creative thinking, self-assessment and questioning are important in their development. They should be trained to challenge whatever they see, hear and learn and not merely be taught for the sake of succeeding in examinations. Challenging the views of elders is not necessarily a sign of disrespect. On the other hand, it depicts that young people are able to think by themselves.” He argues that since the last few years, we are already witnessing young people challenging their leaders, challenging the authority upon them and making the lives of those people harder. “The involvement of youngsters in the general elections of 2014 bears testimony to this. However, we are very far from all our young people doing so. Many do not seem to be interested in going out of their way and simply prefer to live their life as it unfolds without any unwanted hassle.”

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"17760","attributes":{"class":"media-image wp-image-30187 alignleft","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"198","height":"320","alt":"young-pro-washeel"}}]]Washeel Abdel Kassee: “We should be trained to listen”

27-year old Washeel is employed in the offshore sector. According to him, challenging leaders is a must. First, to make better leaders and second, to promote critical thinking. “Challengers should make constructive criticisms and leaders should have the ability to take the criticisms positively, build on these and improve themselves. Leaders should be able to accept that different people have different perspectives of an issue. While the challenger should take into consideration that leaders have been appointed because of their skills and experiences and therefore, may know better than them and should refrain from challenging should they not know enough of the topic or are uncertain in their criticisms.” However, Washeel maintains that making the life of leaders harder is not justifiable if there is no purpose behind. “We should focus on the problem rather than the person and improve things. We have different types of leaders, some who can be challenged. Many of them are willing to listen what the young generation has to say and take onboard their views in the decision-making process. There are also a few who would not step back and listen. Any challenge to these persons is viewed as a threat as they cannot stand adversity. Opponents to their views are considered as enemies rather than challengers because they believe they are always right. Their point of view is the only way we can look at the problem. Sometimes, they can listen but do not really take into consideration what have been said. The real issue is the mindset of our leaders and the young generation. We should be trained to listen and talk about what really matters.”

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"17759","attributes":{"class":"media-image wp-image-30186 alignleft","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"203","height":"274","alt":"young-pro-Washeefah"}}]]Washeefah Dinmahamed: “Young people are assets”

22-years old Washeefah is a student at the University of Mauritius. She recalls that from technology to politics, from the arts to the sciences, from the streets to the information superhighway, young people were already creating their mark and their engagement was also crucial in addressing global challenges. “In a world full of social, political, and economic challenges that cut across geographic boundaries, the international community requires new and diverse perspectives to resolve urgent global issues. Ban Ki-moon stated that young people must dare to challenge their leaders and make their life harder. It is indeed true because this is about our future, so it needs to be our agenda. Moreover, young people are assets. They can contribute to economic growth and reduce poverty. Youth can play a role in innovations. Young people need to be part of decision making.” She says that today’s leaders are facing challenges their forebears never had. “Not only are they confronted with ongoing economic uncertainty and geo-political instability, they must also navigate an increasingly complex global marketplace with a growing millennial workforce that demands a whole new style of leadership. It is a whole brave new world for today’s leaders.” She states that Mauritius will not accept young people to be leaders since older voters will outnumber the younger ones. “The one encouraging sign has been the greater interest the young generation gradually shows on questions of national policy, as so brilliantly demonstrated by Rezistans ek Alternativ on the question of ethnicity in political representation. In addition, the voice of the young generation does not resonate as loudly as the older one, and yet politics dominates the life of the young Mauritian. Moreover, the ageing population added that Mauritian youth knows nothing of our history. This illustrates how our representatives and social leaders may be out of touch with the progressive views of the youth.”

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"17756","attributes":{"class":"media-image wp-image-30183 alignleft","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"204","height":"269","alt":"young-pro-nelvin"}}]]Nelvin Cushmagee: “Ballot casting is not our sole duty”

23-years old Nelvin, currently elected for a second mandate as Vice-President of the Students’ Union of the University of Mauritius, says popular belief wants it that the youth should undertake a revolution to overthrow our actual leaders and take the leadership of the country but this should not be the goal of any visionary young leader. “Young people should be more actively participating in the shaping of the future of their own society and to know that they are being watched by young intellectuals will definitely increase a pressure to perform on representatives. Our duty does not limit itself to voting at elections. Though the country may not be a pleasant scene in political terms, we should not forget that the contribution of all politicians so far has helped to save and maintain a multicultural island that was predicted to crumble politically, economically and culturally, at its time of Independence.” He further explains: “The youth should be given more platforms to express themselves and bring in their way of seeing things. The barriers of familial politics should fall and the population needs to change their way of seeing things: You cannot blame the institution itself if people misuse it and this applies to every field. I am an advocate of youth inclusion and more political parties to definitely challenge familial politics and put a pressure to do better on all political actors. As youngsters, we should be able to carry the values of idealism and putting the country first, and once we are on top, we should not forget where we came from and what we are here for. We must dare to challenge but not with obstinacy to replace others. Progress is when new blood will meet experience and put the country first.”