From aspiring soldier to potential MP

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( have overheard some people say the army recruitment exercise is a strategy to keep the youth of Eswatini busy.

They say the youth is now too liberalised and militant. Both young men and women are eager to take to the streets to demonstrate or march to deliver petitions. These people base their assumption on the fact that the Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS) kick-started a recruitment exercise last year but not even one officer was hired.

This, they say, is despite thousands of youngsters showing keen interest in becoming at least one finger of the long arm of the law.

Well, we must say that we did not believe what these people were saying. That is why we responded positively to the call to visit our respective Tinkhundla centres if we wanted to join the army. Some people try to put us down by implying that we did not want to join the army but just wanted jobs. Hello, those are two sides of the same coin. We want jobs, so we join the army ± or try to. Well, we must say we are dismayed with the whole recruitment process.

It has left us high and dry, with our hopes for a steady monthly salary dashed.

We failed to become members of the Umbutfo Eswatini Defence Force (UEDF), not because we could not run fast enough not because we did not have enough stamina to do pushups and several jack-knife exercises but because of age. Let us break it down for you.

When the recruitment exercise began, several weeks ago, we were informed that only those aged between

and would be considered for enlistment. This made sense. After all, fellow citizens younger than should be in school. Secondly, those who are over might struggle to carry heavy artillery when push comes to shove. We now seriously consider forming an association of all those who failed to join the army this time around.

Some of our potential members will be those who were only when the recruiting team started going around the country. They have turned and the recruitment exercise is still ongoing. However, it has passed their constituency centres, never to return

This can never be fair because in some constituencies, fellow citizens who were when the announcement was made turned recently and were allowed to participate.

We have seen it in some areas, where people who turned a couple of weeks ago were allowed to join the grueling race. Some excelled and were recruited.

There is also the small matter of those who were aged and comfortable when this drama-filled exercise started. They started training hard, doing five-kilometre jogs in the morning and afternoon. They also lifted weights. These ladies and gentlemen turned

while waiting for the army team to reach their constituencies. Their hopes of going to Mbuluzi have disappeared like dew in the morning sun. The only consolation we have now is that the Parliament recruitment exercise will begin soon as well. By this time next year, the current Parliament would have been dissolved and a fresh recruitment exercise would have begun.

We just might make it because in Eswatini, reTuirements for joining the army are almost exactly those needed to become a Member of Parliament (MP). For both, you need to be a citizen of Eswatini and be above the age of .

Education, gender, complexion, height and sexual orientation are not factors.