GirlZOffMute—Gambia's teen parliamentarian

DW (English)

Does your country have a children's parliament? What impact do such parliaments have on the next generation of politicians and leaders? In the Gambia there is such a parliament and has 105 members of parliament—children up to the age of 18. Our teen reporter, Lena E. Igweanyiba, attended one of their sessions to understand what happens in there. #GIrlZOffMute #DWAfrica #77Percent

Transcript

00:00Hello lovely people, my name is Lena E. Gwenyeba and I'm here in the Gambia.

00:08You know what, in this country we do have a special children's parliament.

00:12It is called the Children's National Assembly of the Gambia.

00:15It is made up of 105 elected kids from each of the seven districts.

00:20The elected kids occasionally meet to discuss issues that are crucial to them.

00:23Now that I know that they have in their meeting today, I'm just curious to see what transpires

00:28in there.

00:29Let's go and see what's happening.

00:32Hi Honourables, how does it feel like being elected to such a prestigious role?

00:36I would say it's an honour and a privilege to be part of this platform called the Children's

00:41National Assembly.

00:42And we are here to represent the voiceless, we are not here because we are more intelligent

00:46or something, but we are here to represent them well and we make sure we represent them

00:50well.

00:51Amazing, what about you Tina?

00:52I feel special because amongst thousands of children, you have been chosen from your region

00:58to come and represent children in the National Assembly.

01:02It's really an honour and we make sure that we leave no stone unturned.

01:05And you Adam, holding such a position at your age, isn't it a joke?

01:09It's not a joke, Lena.

01:11So long as I am the Deputy Speaker of the Children's National Assembly, we are going

01:14to work collectively and I am so humbled to meet these people in my life.

01:20Louisa, you're from the capital, you're representing kids from the capital of Anjou.

01:23What are some of the issues you would like to see addressed?

01:25The first thing is like a lack of sanitary materials in schools.

01:30It's really affecting girls and that will make them to be absent from school.

01:34Parts are supplied to the school, but to get access is very difficult because some kids

01:38find it embarrassing to go and ask teachers for the parts.

01:41Tida, you're from the Carnefield Municipality, right?

01:44And what are some of the most pressing issues that you would like the Parliament to focus

01:47on during your term?

01:48There are many, but as for us in Carnefield Municipal Council, some of the girls in school

01:55So they kick them out, they become dropouts, like everything they've worked for, it goes

02:00to zero and it's disheartening knowing that you've worked hard for something and it's

02:05all like the wind came, blew it all away.

02:08Like I said earlier, you all hold very respectable positions.

02:11What are some of the skills you'd say you've learned from being in the Parliament?

02:14You get the opportunity to put yourself in the problems of other people that you don't

02:18know.

02:19And Children's National Assembly of the Gambia has taught me to become a better public speaker.

02:23So Children's National Assembly helped us in a lot of things.

02:27We advocate, we fight for the rights of children and all other things.

02:31Sleman, why was it important to form the Children's Parliament?

02:34It is important to give voice to children.

02:37They have a responsibility to the development of this country.

02:42Because I may go somewhere and talk about issues of children, but when children themselves

02:49talk about their issues, that will have more weight than me talking about it.

02:53I must say it is a very great initiative, but would you say it has achieved its purpose?

02:58Yeah, partly it has because already a platform has been formed for these children to have

03:03that opportunity to speak to authorities, to be able to come together and able to contribute

03:08to the development of this country.

03:10And they are pushing a lot of issues around children for authorities to do, able to give

03:15them that space.

03:17But now what is left is to push with the authorities to make sure that the issues that they are

03:22raising are addressed.

03:24The issues raised in this parliament by children during their parliamentary sessions are brought

03:28to the Gambia government's attention.

03:30From the Gambia, the smiling coast of Africa, I am Lena Igwenyuwa.

03:33Bye for now.

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