Kumasi, Dec. 30, GNA - Mr. Sampson Kwaku Boafo, the Ashanti Regional Minister, on Tuesday deplored the socio-economic circumstances in which the youth find themselves.

He said the youth, who constitute the beauty, strength and the driving force behind the development of the nation, are deprived of quality education, health, employment and subjected to negative impact of modernisation, conflict, abuse and neglect.

These were contained in an address read for him at a forum on the draft national youth policy in Kumasi, on Tuesday.

The National Youth Council organised the forum to solicit views from the youth to be incorporated in the draft national youth policy and youth associations, students and other youth related agencies in the region attended.

Mr Boafo expressed regret that apart from the National Redemption Council Decree 241 of 1974 that was flawed with many problems Ghana had not had any youth policy.

He said the draft youth policy, when adopted and passed into law, would provide a framework with a set of realistic guidelines from which would flow programmes and activities to facilitate the involvement of the youth in the national development effort.

Mr Boafo said the government had established youth centres to provide training to the youth and the government had earmarked 50 billion cedis for the establishment of a youth fund to be given to trained youth to establish their own businesses.

He called on the youth to take advantage of the training centres to acquire skills to enable them to benefit from the fund. Mr J.E Ankrah, the Ashanti Regional youth co-ordinator, said the forum was to enable the youth to contribute to the implementation of a policy that affected their proper development.

He advised all youth organisations in the region to register with the NYC to enable them to benefit from their programmes and activities.