Shadow participants

Operation Black Vote and the National Assembly for Wales launched the “Ground-breaking” Assembly Member Shadowing Schemes this week.

The launch, held at the Welsh Assembly, welcomed nine people from the BME community, enlisted to take part in this pioneering project for the first time ever in Wales.

Funded by the Assembly, the scheme aims to encourage BME individuals to engage in the political process by shadowing Assembly Members (AM) from all the main political groups, the Labour Party, the Conservative Party, Plaid Cymru (The Party of Wales) and the Liberal Democrat Party.

Abdool Rahman Khodabocus, one of the nine participants on the scheme, will be shadowing Bethan Jenkins, an AM for South Wales West from Plaid Cymru.

He told OBV: “The reason why I chose to do the shadowing scheme was because in our communities we are highly under represented and there is a need for individuals like myself to come forward to become more aware of politics and to advocate for the rest of the community.”

For the next six months the nine participants will spend their time with mentors observing how the assembly is governed, including attending preliminary debates and committees. They will gain a behind the scenes look at what members do in their communities and will essentially become community ambassadors.

Mohammad Asghar, the only minority ethnic Assembly Member in Wales and chair of the Equality of Opportunity Committee, told OBV that the scheme was long overdue. He said: “minorities who are born here should feel and believe they belong to this country. They are Welsh and should be able to come forward to join and participate in the political system.”

His point was reiterated by the Presiding Officer of the Welsh Assembly, Lord Dafydd Ellis Thomas who welcomed the nine shadows and said that it was important for Wales, as the diverse nation it is, to reflect that makeup in the political framework.

Lord Thomas said that it was important that the nation “talk of inclusiveness and equality for all” and argued that the politics has to be inclusive for equality to actually become a certainty.

Some of the key speakers at the event included Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas, Ann Jones AM, Chair of Equality of Opportunity Committee, Mohammad Asghar AM and OBV director Simon Woolley.

OBV director Simon Woolley and Mohammad Asghar AM

At the launch Woolley told the assembly members that he was “delighted that the National Assembly for Wales has been so positive about undertaking this exciting and historic project. The history of Black communities in Wales goes back centuries. It is right therefore, to ensure that all voices are heard and that they have a stake in these key bodies.”

One of the other shadow participants, Elizabeth Musa, a support worker for Bawso Women’s Aid, is looking forward to what the scheme will offer. She said the main reason why she wanted to take part in the scheme was because she wants to be the representative voice for her community, one which Musa feels is being ignored from political decisions.

Her mentor Helen Mary Jones, AM for the area Llanelli is a member of the Assembly’s Equality Committee, says that she hopes Elizabeth will gain a lot from the experience.

Helen Mary Jones AM and shadow participant Elizabeth Musa

She commented that she was absolutely thrilled about the scheme, “We don’t have anybody from minority ethnic communities who are visible in the assembly. We’ve made a small step forward with one ethnic minority member but one is not enough,” Jones said.

The Assembly Shadowing Scheme seeks to follow in the line of previous successful OBV shadowing schemes including the MP Shadowing Scheme and Councillor Shadowing Scheme. Participants have gone on to become elected politicians or ambassadors in their communities from all previous schemes.