Ghana Scouts Association (GSA) has officially started activities to create awareness of the forthcoming 14th Africa Scout Conference and 5th Youth Forum to be hosted by the association in Ghana in November, 2009. It was on the theme: “Empowering Young Lives, Creating A Better World”.

As part of its planned activities, the Association undertook a clean-up exercise at the Dzorwulu Special School Premises and re-launched the Disability Scout Programme. It also unveiled the 14th Africa Scout Conference and 5th Youth Forum logo and went on a walk to create awareness about the conference.

Mr. Joseph Adu, president of the Society of the Physically Challenged, in a speech read on his behalf, commended the Ghana Scout Association for the re-introduction of the disabled scout movement in the country, and pledged the association’s willingness to cooperate with government and non governmental organisations (NGO) with similar objective.

The association, he said, will partner the Ghana Scout Association to enable its members learn values and skills of the GSA to empower it members in their lifetime. Mr. Adu described the youth as future leaders and challenged the leadership of the disabled scouts to increase their membership, ensure accountability to their members and resist the temptation to take advantage of the members.

The Chief Commissioner of GSA and Conference host committee chairman, Mr. Isaac Newton Addy, said the objective of the scout movement is to contribute to the development of young people in achieving their full physical, intellectual, social and spiritual potential as individuals, responsible citizens and members of their local, national and international communities.

He said the GSA, as far as it is concern, “does not have disabled people” and urged the physically challenged not to see themselves as handicaps. Mr. Addy said the scout movement does not have any affiliation with any religious, political or ethnic groups, and does not allow its members to discuss matters pertaining to political propaganda at their gatherings.

Launching the programme, Mr. Adjetey Sowah, a physically challenged scout, urged the leadership of the scout movement to create the necessary awareness about their activities to enable more young people to join the association, since scouts are there to serve mankind.

He was however not happy that fortunes of the disability scouts dwindled after the demise of the founder of the disabled scouts, Mr. Kofi Agyeman,

Ms. Jemima Nartey, Deputy Commissioner and a Member of the Africa Scout Committee disclosed that 37 African countries and representative of scout associations worldwide will be attending the November, 2009 conference.

The conference, she noted, will have economic benefit for the nation, and participants will learn the cultures of Ghana and exchange ideas with their counterparts from other parts of the world. Ms. Nartey said the youth forum, which precedes the main conference, will come up with a resolution, which will be discussed and adopted.

Touching on the 14th Africa Scout Conference and 5th Youth Forum, Ms. Nartey said the conference is held every three years. This years’ conference should have been hosted by Botswana but withdrew, making way for Ghana scout to host the event. Apart from international exposure, participants will discuss climate change, self reliance and issues relating to the world.

Throwing more light on scouting in Ghana, Ms. Nartey said scouting is a youth programme and the association has about 3,000 members nationwide. The idea is to recruit more young people to be able to impart values and skill in them early so they can grow with it. According to the deputy commissioner, there are scout programmes from primary to tertiary level, and the idea is to ensure continuity