The Sufferings of Today by the Youth of Yester-years

To the youth who are close to my heart I say this – clarify your understanding of the world system you live in as a prerequisite to envisioning the future that you face and the challenges ahead.

The events of the new world economy are to keep you aware of the harsh realities that face Ghanaians and Africans as a whole. I specifically draw your attention in particular to the environment in which you find yourselves as the youth. In the new global village it pays to juxtapose the Ghanaian and African situations with other countries, continents and races. This leads us to an examination of the condition of Ghana and Africa and the state of Pan-Africanism to which Garvey, Dubois, Padmore, Nkrumah and others devoted their lives.

The African condition is the condition of the youth. It was the youth of yester-years who have made it difficult for the youth of today to survive in Ghana and Africa. It is therefore incumbent on you, the youth of today to prevent the growing decay and disintegration by arming yourselves with a new vision and skills for the transformation, rehabilitation, dignification, and reclamation of Ghana, the African continent and its peoples. You the youth are cruelly sandwiched between the past and the future. This is both a privilege and a challenge. Heed the wise words of Sir Winston Churchill who he said – “The further backward you can look, the further forward you are likely to see”. So I beckon you to look back to Nkrumah, his words, his philosophy and his prophecy! Behold the bright future ahead of you, see the new Jerusalem yonder with the eyes of hope!

I see your past, present and future as a continuum – a kind of anthropological and biological consanguinity. As a result, the failures and mis-adventure of the youth of yesterday have translated into the frustrations of the youth of today. Your present frustrations if not remedied as a matter of urgency, will translate into a perpetual helplessness for the youth of tomorrow. This cannot be allowed to happen under my Government. You the youth must be given the highest priority! We must begin to re-align your importance in the order of things by reexamining our identity as Ghanaians and Africans, to underpin the rediscovery of our grand purpose through Pan-Africanism and through broad and meaningful education for the mass of our people. As the youth of Africa today, you must know that Africa is the largest and most well endowed continent on the face of this earth. It has a land mass of 30 million sq km which is big enough to swallow USA’s 10 million sq km. half a million sq km for Europe with room left for India and the Australian sub-content. Sudan alone is six times as large as Europe with 3 million sq km. Africa is 5000 miles from the North to the South, 5000 miles from East to West and has 17,000 miles of coast line. The net value of illegal fishing off this coast line alone is many more times than all the so called AID that Africa receives. What then is your net gain? Your continent has the largest hydro electric power, reserves of gold, diamonds, bauxite, manganese, uranium, petroleum, gas, copper and rich agricultural land but is considered the poorest and the least developed continent in the world – an unimaginable paradox. Africa’s population is the youngest and the most fertile in the world in spite of the AIDS pandemic. This means that people aged 15 years and lower account for over 60 percent of the total population. This should be considered a blessing. Africa belongs to you the youth of today, but you must seize it and embrace it with all of its challenges. It is important that you the youth today work relentlessly for a continental government which can offer the means, capital, vision, will, agenda and leadership for you to effectively own, control and use this content’s resources for your benefit. None of the existing dependent, divided and debt-plagued African states on the continent today can offer such a future. The CPP is ready to work with you and is the only party that offers you this unique hope for your future. We don’t just say it we mean it!!!

This continent including your beloved Ghana supplies 61 percent of raw materials to the rich world. Our large resources have made others rich and our people poor and helpless. Your duty as the youth of today and adults of tomorrow should be how best to break this current trend of unacceptable terms of trade, which only reinforces foreign re-colonization, control, domination and exploitation of Ghana and the continent’s riches. We must bring about a new paradigm of reciprocal prosperity in return for joint exploitation of or natural resources. This can be achieved through hard work, unity and dedication and not through the present imitation, drug sniffing, and foreign fashion addiction. Your challenge should be the total freedom from the genocide of today’s division and disgraceful dependency in Africa. It should be freedom from hunger and poverty so that our minds can think big! Dream big! And do big! Your future is in Pan-Africanism which is the only way to ensure that you empower your generation to save and protect all Africans. That power is in you! That power is you!

God bless our homeland Ghana. Forward Ever!!!

Views expressed by the author(s) do not necessarily reflect those of GhanaHomePage.