Youth Parliament leads Fatai into politics [1]
Sunday, March 30, 2003 - 09:50. Updated on Friday, March 18, 2016 - 17:44.
From Matangi Tonga Magazine Vol. 18, no. 1, March 2003.
When Fatai Tokolahi (26) was chosen by the Tonga National Youth Congress to be the Speaker of Tonga’s first ever Youth Parliament in December last year, he said that it was a turning point in his life, and it made him realize that his future career is in politics.
“As a Speaker my roles and responsibilities are similar to the Speaker of the Tonga Parliament,” he said.
Fatai is a member of the Tonga National Youth Congress and considers himself to be ambitious and self-motivated, he loves challenges and is not afraid to speak his mind.
He said that the great thing about having the Youth Parliament is, “that we youths are debating and putting forth ideas on issues that are directly affecting our generation, like alcohol, drugs, tobacco and HIV AIDS.”
Fatai said that one of the most important things that the Youth Parliament passed to be submitted to the Tonga Parliament in 2004 was for one per cent of the Tonga Government’s Annual Budget to be allocated to the Tonga National Youth Congress to finance youth programs.
“What I have learned from this tremendous experience is that you have to take a step out of your comfort zone and widen your mind to ideas that are global in order to actually achieve something. Like this Youth Parliament, without the universal idea for the ‘Youths Voices to be Heard’ we would not have had anything to say about issues that are directing affecting us, but are being considered by our Government, stated in our laws and debated by our Parliament. So what we as youths need to do is to speak out now,” said Fatai.
The Tonga National Youth Congress is a non-government organization set up in 1991, and funded by the Ministry of Education. The Youth Parliament sitting on ‘Youths Voices to be Heard’ from December 16-18 was a UNICEF project. The appointment of the youth representatives followed a series of four workshops to educate youth on the Tongan Legislature, and the best participants were selected by the TNYC Co-ordinating Committee. The president of the TNYC is Drew Havea and it has seven executive members.