A concerned youth is speaking out about the level of engagement political parties have had with youths around the country in the build up to the general elections in November.
Abdul Shaheed who is an active participant in the youth sector in Fiji says his view is that the engagement by political parties has been opportunistic.
He says youth wings of political parties are popping up everywhere only because the elections are near.
Shaheed says he does not support a political party and is raising this out of genuine concern as a youth of this country.
Two political parties that have active youth wings are SODELPA and NFP.
SODELPA Youth Wing President, Jope Koroisavou says they have been active for at least two years and they have visited close to a hundred communities.
He says even in the process of building their manifesto they sent out survey forms to different youth groups to write down their different issues and concerns about the nation.
Responding to Abdul Shaheed’s comments that political parties only need youths to clean up the tables after their events, Koroisavou says the observation made by Shaheed is very unfair.
National Federation Party Leader, Professor Biman Prasad says they are happy to talk with Abdul Shaheed and have a discussion about his concerns.
He says they have gone around the country and many of the issues they have in their manifesto has come from the young people of this country.
