The opportunity to participate in decision making has been a major hurdle for most young people even though there have been recent calls from world leaders across the Globe on Young People to actively participate in their country’s development since they constitute the majority of the world’s population. For instance the United Nations Secretary General Mr. Ban Kin Moon recently admonished world leaders to invest heavily in the youth since failing to invest in the youth is a false economy. Our President His Excellency John Dramani Mahama has reiterated this call on several occasions and platforms since his assumption into the highest office of our dear nation. His Excellency has always called on the youth to rally behind him in achieving our developmental aspirations as a country.

His Excellency must give meaning to his numerous calls on the youth by creating opportunities for them to participate at all levels of our governance system to reflect his belief in the youth and also his readiness to work with them and also advance the course of youth development.

I believe that such a step will pay a great dividend for the future of Ghana than we expect since it will be an opportunity to groom the teeming young people who will take charge of affairs soon.

The Youth are more energetic, more creative, good innovators and enthusiastic users of technology who fit well into modern ways of doing things. Young people are normally referred to as future leaders and the future of every country depends on the capacity of its young people. Adults for sure have more experience than their younger counterparts but the experience of the adult is gained through learning and participation so until you are given the opportunity you won’t get any experience. I expect the older politicians to institute some mentorship programmes to assist the youth and groom them through valuable suggestions if they really have the future of this country at heart. The President in my opinion should strengthen the National Youth Authority to perform its function as mandated. Currently many young people in Ghana don’t know what the National Youth Authority is all about because they are not visible in some districts. I wonder how much it will cost a district to have such an important office to be established.

The President must encourage his Ministers to appoint young graduates preferably those below thirty to serve as their special assistance as a way of mentoring them to take up the challenge in the near future.

I expect the government to institute youth parliament at the district level up to the national level so that their voices and feelings on national issues will reflect in national policies and programmes. The president must ensure that the youth have access to quality education which will make them useful to themselves and the country at large. When you empower the youth they can easily participate in our nation building.

His Excellency should reserve some percentages of appointment into government at all levels for young people who qualify and have the capacity to serve our dear nation. This will encourage other youths to offer their best for mother Ghana. As a country we must work towards building a formidable youth which entails systematic measures which are carefully executed so government must channel the necessary resources to its institutions which are responsible for developing the youth.

ALI TANTI ROBERT

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR YOUTH ALLIANCE FOR DEVELOPMENT (YAD) OBUASI

tantirobert@yahoo.co.uk