Top: Dr. Peter Biar Ajak (left) and President Salva Kiir (right)Below: Minister of Petroleum, Mr. Puot K. Chol (left) and late Mr. Kerubino Wol (right)
So,
making sense of how political ageism marginalizes the youth needs more than the
proposition that ageism is to blame. The youth themselves enable the system
that keeps them at the margin of power and decision-making in the country.
Of
course, the structural dynamics of youth economic and political marginality,
which is outside youth control, is not something I downplay. The youth are,
however, not helpless bystanders in the ageism power matrix. They are complicit
as pawns of the elite and ethnic chauvinists.
The
youth, who are ethnic chauvinists or wannabe-elite make political ageism
effective and marginalizing. These youth do not mind septuagenarians or
octogenarians monopolizing politics and economics if these youth join, or are
favored by, the political and economic elite. South Sudanese scholar, Majak D’Agoot, has
referred to this youth-marginalizing South Sudanese elite as the “gun
class.”
In
this case the youth support the gun class, however incompetent and corrupt,
because these leaders come from their tribe. They complain that the older generation is not
giving the youth a share of power. However, these marginalized youth support
leaders who tell 40-year-olds that they are “leaders of tomorrow.” For instance, some local youth associations in
South Sudan are headed by “youth” in their mid-40s. This is why, on
April 17, 2023, Daniel Mwaka, a South Sudanese youth leader, suggested that the
youth age bracket in South Sudan be delimited at 35.