Ms Candida Awelana, a member of Centre for Development Research and Advocacy (CeDRA), has expressed concern about the delay in the processes leading to the formulation and passage of the National Youth Act.

“The fact that the bill is yet to be in Parliament since the launch of the National Youth Policy 2010 leaves much to be desired. The last draft which was sighted had certain provisions we think require further consideration to make the yet to be passed act more effective,” Ms Awelana said.

She was addressing a news conference held in Accra as part of activities to mark this year's International Youth Day. The conference was organised by CeDRA with support from the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) and the Global Youth Focus (GYF). It was themed, 'Showing real commitment to the youth of Ghana: the role of stakeholder.'

August 12 is marked globally as International Youth Day. The day was designated by the United Nations to create awareness and draw attention to a given set of cultural and legal issues surrounding the youth. The occasion was also meant to salute young people all over the world, and express gratitude to the African Union (AU) for declaring 2009 to 2018 as the Decade of African Youth.

Ms Awelana used the occasion to commend the government of Ghana for its effort on youth development in the country. In particular, she lauded the $10 million Youth Enterprise Support Fund (YES Fund) which was launched by the President John Dramani Mahama last Tuesday. She said it was a good initiative which would seek to provide more innovative jobs and opportunities to contain unemployed Ghanaian youth across the country.

She insisted that though the YES Fund was a good idea, it may not achieve its expected outcomes if the general legal regime remained the same, adding that the initiative was long overdue and has got people criticising it already. However, she indicated that she was highly expectant and hoped that the fund would go a long way to address the issues affecting the youth of the country. According to her, even though the government was applauded for the initiative, she appealed to the government to ensure that the fund becomes accessible to all youth across board without discrimination or nepotism. “Mentorship and apprenticeship be prioritised and arranged in Ghana and across our borders for the youth. This will decrease delinquency and increase initiatives and diversification of our economy,” she added.

She encouraged all stakeholders to assist in resourcing correctional centres in the country to enhance rehabilitation effort so as to reduce recidivism among juvenile delinquents. Also, there is the need for the government to focus more energy and resources on boosting Technical Vocational Education (TVET) in order to reduce the increasing unemployment rate among the youth.