Gareth Manning, Gleaner Writer 
Andrew Okola, president of the PNPYO. - Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer
WITH JUST one week before the New Year, and maybe two months before a new Prime Minister is sworn in, younger Jamaicans continue to scoff at all things political.
Opinion polls have shown that many young persons remain in the large uncommitted voter contingent and have little or no faith in political representatives.
But, come next year, young people wish to put crime, corruption and education on the political agenda, The Sunday Gleaner inquiries reveal.
Jason Lovelace, a 21-year-old student at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona says more needs to be done to curb violence in society. He says politicians need to unite the country to fight against the growing problem.
"I realise that it is not just the politicians who have the responsibility, but at the same point in time we need some motivation and we need some amount of direction [from them]," he says
Annife Campbell, another student at UWI, says politicians have given economic problems precedence over the country's social ills.
"Apart from the obvious depressing economic issues, I think it is about time the politicians are willing to take up certain social issues. I think Jamaican politics is too much with the bread and butter issues," he says.
He says better rehabilitation programmes need to be put in place to ensure incarcerated youths receive better treatment before they are released to society.
"[Look at] The number of young offenders that end up in it (prison) and they not rehabilitated properly. I mean they come back out same way. What are the kind[s] of rehabilitation programmes that will prevent them from returning to a life of criminality? These are the kinds of social issues that affect [young] people and that's why they end up becoming a part of the donmanship or the gangs. What are the kinds of social programmes that will be implemented to take young people out of this vicious cycle," Campbell says.
