The presidential institution's level of interest with those aged 30-40 years is completely outside of its political calculations. This is quite obvious in institutional communication, whether through the Presidential Leadership Programme or through the National Youth Conferences. Since it was announced in 2015, the Presidential Leadership Programme has excluded those above the age of 30, and it is very much the case for the National Youth Conferences, whether the 2016 Sharm El-Sheikh Conference, the 2017 Aswan Conference or the 2017 Ismailia Conference. Actually, in these conferences, and in the Presidential Leadership Programme that should be designed specifically for future leaders, one sees that some participants are nominated by the Ministry of Youth and Sports and other ministries as well. Reflecting on political movements in Egypt in recent years, it is clear that the generation born in the 1980s, now over the age of 30, has a mixture of political tendencies and these tendencies cannot be categorised rigidly. It is true that this generation grew up during the era of former president Hosni Mubarak and a big part of their personalities were affected and formed by Mubarak's economic, political and social programmes. Yet, this generation was not given the chance to show its patriotism and express its love for its country except during sports matches. The 1980s generation with its various political orientations was the one that protested and was the main cause of the 25 January 2011 Revolution. Therefore, it is not fair to exclude this generation and punish it for being loyal to or part of the Mubarak regime. Believe it or not, this generation overthrew the Mubarak regime. No one can deny that this generation was the hardest hit by the arrival of the Muslim Brotherhood to power; they sought to address all attempts made by the Muslim Brotherhood to radicalise Egypt, substituting their loyal and long-invested cadres in all sectors. Nor can it be said that this generation did not move in the June 2013 Revolution with the increasing failure of the Muslim Brotherhood in running the state. It was the first generation to demonstrate in the events at the Heliopolis Presidential Palace in December 2012, was the engine of the “Tamarod” insurgency movement, and then the backbone of the 2013 revolution. There are many who believe that this generation does not need to join leadership programmes or conferences, therefore it is more convenient to invest in younger generations. But those who believe this do not recognise that ignoring this generation will create a problem that may develop into a political crisis in the coming period. To elaborate, the number of people between the ages of 30 and 40 exceeds 13 million according to 2016 statistics published by the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS). This group is characterised by high rates of political participation. According to the World Values Survey in its latest publication, in 2014, 49.2 per cent of this age group in Egypt are regular voters in elections, and therefore represent political capital that is not invested in positively by state institutions. Of those under the age of 30, the percentage of abstentions in elections rises to 31.5 per cent. This generation is being ignored and is losing the privilege to be part of or participate in the process of building the future of the new state. This will have multiple negative repercussions. To avoid these repercussions, the state must establish ways of positive communication with this group of young people and to work on passing benefits to them in the coming period. Two proposals that could help: The first proposal is launching another programme to improve the leadership skills of people in the 30-40 age group, designing the programme in a way that is commensurate with the quality of leadership required, and developing more specific criteria than those implemented in the current programme. A permanent technical secretariat whose members are known to participants should be chosen, to communicate with and work according to declared criteria on how to choose who participates in the programme. The second proposal is to establish open criteria of participation in the aforementioned conferences. It is important to ensure that the youth sectors that participate in this conference are expanded by developing criteria for those who are chosen to participate, and to allocate the proportion of different age groups participating accurately, in accordance to their numerical weight in the total population. The writer is a senior researcher at Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies.
