Empower youth for national development - FOSDA

An eleven-point communiqué has been adopted by youth representatives at a training workshop organised by the Foundation for Security and Development in Africa (FOSDA), in collaboration with the Institute of Local Government Study (ILGS), to appeal to the government to enhance youth participation in governance.

The youth leaders were drawn from all over the country to Accra to share ideas and experience how to foster the development of Ghana, even at their youthful age.

The workshop was dubbed “Promoting Youth participation in Local Governance: The prospects.”

According the 2010 Population and Housing Census, the youth population is about 7.5 million out of the total estimated population of 25 million people in the country, but Ghana has not experienced adequate youth participation, says FOSDA.

The Deputy Director of the National Youth Authority (NYA), Peter Otokunor, indicated that youth participation in governance must start from the local level.

He said the youth can only contribute their quota to the development of Ghana, if they build their skills and acquire knowledge to meet modern trends of development.

He added that the youth can influence policy when they are self disciplined, empower one another, read wide, be transparent and accurate, and have the country at heart.

Akantuge Stephen Adongo, President of the Bongo Youth Association, noted that despite the high youth population in Ghana, the youth are marginalised and sometimes ignored in active participation in governance.

“We have seen policies and programmes that are designed for youth development in Ghana without much consultation of the youth, and they end up being manipulated to the advantage of politicians. The youth employment models and National Youth Authority programmes are just few examples that easily come to mind when the youth is mentioned. However, most of these programmes do not trickle down to the local level; when they do, they are politicized, leaving out the majority,” he bemoaned.

Mr. Adongo admonished the misconceptions about the youth as being violent, inexperienced and uneducated, which suggests that they are not capable of participating in governance, adding that there are many youth in the country who are ready to contribute positively to the development of the country.

He stressed that youth participation in local governance in Ghana is important, because the youth are the future adults, and that they need the requisite experience to be better leaders.

According to him, the youth should be given 50% of one-third of government appointments and participating in youth related policies to enable them participate fully in local governance in Ghana.

“We, however, need to do this, bearing in mind that youth groups, through powerful, can sometimes be vulunerable and suscerptible to manipulation and exploitation for selfish gains. If there is anything good that has ever happened to the ghanaian youth, I think it is the Youth Policy Document that has been formulated, and it is my hope that [the] government will expedite action on its full implementation,” he added

The Bongo Youth President used the opportunity to challenge the formantive age in Ghana to prepare themselves for the future, by organising politically neutral groups, where they would have a common vocice, build the spirit of volunteerism, patriotism, and leadership potentials among others.