Ghana’s High Commissioner to Namibia, Alhaji Abdul-Rahman Harruna Attah, MOV, has declared that education is crucial in the empowerment of young African women. Speaking in Windhoek last week on the theme “Delivering on the Potential of Africa’s Young Women”, he said education was the only way young women could unleash their innovative, creative and productive potentials. The High Commissioner was the keynoter at a youth event which was a prelude to the Africa Union 2015 Summit theme of "Year of Women’s Empowerment and Development towards Africa’s Agenda 2063”. The AU has declared 1st November 2014 as Africa Youth Day in which member states are enjoined to organize youth-related activities.

“Some of the most influential persons in the last century and this current one”, he said, “are women…In my own country Ghana, the Chief Justice is a woman, while the AU Chairperson is a woman, one of the most influential people in the Bretton Woods institutions is a Nigerian woman and indeed, a woman heads one of those institutions. Here in Namibia the Foreign Minister, Home Affairs and Immigration Minister and others are women. We can count many Prime Ministers and Presidents who have been or are women.” With so many high profile women straddling many spheres of world affairs, he asked, “Why are we complaining?” The answer, he said is because, “We want more! As a father of two daughters, I am well qualified to join in the chorus of chanting for more.” Referring to the theme, he said, “Eventually all girls will grow into women so even as we fashion out strategies for young girls, we should also take the long term view of how we would want them to end up in adult life. Education must be purposeful to allow these young women to actualize themselves in fields that would allow them to innovate, create and produce. In other words, they must take advantage of the independence and confidence that entrepreneurship engenders… No matter what models of youth development we put in place, if they do not instigate the entrepreneurship of our youth, we can FORGET IT! They cannot be the vectors of development we are all hoping for… And so my contribution to this discussion is education, education, education! All the women I mentioned as having attained high places in local and international affairs were also once girls and their achievements have come as a result of education. So for me the very first point of call in “Delivering on the Potential of Africa’s Young women” is Education. We have to free them to go beyond beauty pageants, reality shows and football.”