IT is clear that the Guyana Youth and Student Movement (GYSM) led by the hierarchy of the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) is exploiting our young people and another machine used to promote APNU’s agenda which has racist undertones.

The GYSM comprises mostly middle-aged PNC activists parading themselves as youths who are on a recruitment drive which has as its target base persons from only one particular ethnic group.
It is sad to see a political party which claims that it is responsible and one that is supposedly dedicated to creating opportunities for young people is using those very young minds in furtherance of a partisan cause when they should be helping to empower them instead.
It is also upsetting as a parent and a young professional to see the youths being bribed into joining the PNCR youth arm under the pretext that opportunities for jobs, skills training etc are being made possible when the reality is that they are being used to fight political battles on behalf of APNU.
I recall only recently the actions of the youth arm of the PNCR’s offspring under the name, the Youth Coalition for Transformation (YCT). The YCT made several calls for boycotts against certain businesses deemed to be supportive of the government and ruling party. Its excuse then was that it was encouraging young people to be prudent and to refrain from excessive frollicking.
It then turned around and hosted a series of frolics of its own where alcohol, loud music and excessive spending were the orders of the day.These actions are a clear reflection of the actions and behaviour of the APNU and its cohorts. The Movement, like the party, is always in contravention of its positions on matters of national importance.
I think it is time the young people in this Movement who still have their sanity rethink their decision and examine the actions of this movement and determine whether this is what they really signed up for.
I also urge the young people to take a look at the structure and workings of the Progressive Youth Organisation (PYO) and see how a youth group is really supposed to operate.
Over the past years, the PYO has been integrally involved in community development activities countrywide and unlike the GYSM/YCT the PYO is made up  of Guyanese of all ethnic backgrounds and that is visible in all of the approximately 50 PYO groups countrywide.
The opposition should stop playing the race card and deal with the issues and allow for Guyana’s continued development.