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Centre for African Democratic Affairs (CADA) has upon today’s observation of the World International Youth Day, christened it as “empowering Ghanaian Youth for sustainable development”.

According to the Executive Director for CADA, Frank Adarkwah-Yiadom, the energy of Ghanaian youth is being used either positively or unproductively depending on the individuals.

“12 August 2016 is International Youth Day all over the world and the theme given by the United Nations is “The Road to 2030: Eradicating Poverty and Achieving Sustainable Consumption and Production,” with a special focus on SDG 12. Notwithstanding, in Ghana, CADA believes that the theme for this year’s Youth Day should rather be “Empowering Ghanaian Youth for Sustainable Development”.

In a press release copied to Peacefmonline.com, Mr Adarkwah-Yiadom insisted there is a need for the country to meet the needs of the present youth without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs.


Below Is Full Press Release From Centre for African Democratic Affairs (CADA):

Youth all over the World are fondly called leaders of tomorrow. This is not farfetched from the fact that they are characterised with energy and mental alertness. In Ghana, the Centre for African Democratic Affairs (CADA) believes that this energy is either used positively or negatively or unproductively depending on the individual or in some cases the society. 12 August 2016 is International Youth Day all over the world and the theme given by the United Nations is “The Road to 2030: Eradicating Poverty and Achieving Sustainable Consumption and Production,” with a special focus on SDG 12. Notwithstanding, in Ghana, CADA believes that the theme for this year’s Youth Day should rather be “Empowering Ghanaian Youth for Sustainable Development. In the opinion of CADA, there is the need for the country to meet the needs of the present youth without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

In Ghana, CADA believes that this year’s youth day is about turning the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development into reality by focusing on programmes and activities that will give the chance to the youth to play the leading role in eradicating poverty whilst achieving development of the country through sustainable local production and consumption. CADA is of the view that, sustainable consumption is all about the use of products produced locally that meet the basic needs of communities while keeping in mind the needs of future generations.

CADA believes that many young people in Ghana continue to face barriers to making productive choices including unemployment, high prices of goods and services and lack of information about what options are available.

CADA urges the government, relevant agencies, civil society organisations, and the youth in general to mark the day by highlighting and strategizing the positive contributions of the youth in development and by pledging to engage, particularly the government, with youth as partners in the implementation its national interests and agenda for the youth.

As the country goes to polls on 7 December 2016, what hope does this year’s election bring to the youth of this country? CADA agrees with the statement recently made by the Chairman of the Ghana’s Peace Council that some young people in the country have said they will not even vote for the simple reason that all the politicians are the same and their value is also the same. What they know doing best is giving unprecedented promises which they never fulfill them. CADA has observed that most of the youth in the country are losing confidence in politicians across the country. There is no doubt when you interact with a cross section of the youth, they are disappointed because we are talking too much when they have no jobs. There is an urgent need for politicians and those in authorities to do something to recoup their image and explain things clearly to the youth including their challenges and what efforts are being made to address the challenges.

There is no denying the fact that Ghana since 1992, there have been reported cases of electoral violence and struggles always over political posts during elections. Political power struggle has become a key cause of electoral violence among political parties in the country. Ghanaian youth are mainly used by these politicians to champion their selfish cause without necessarily thinking about the future of these youth. Meanwhile, today, Ghanaian youth face many challenges such as unemployment and other social related problems. The lack of personal and professional growth and development standpoints for the youth has created high levels of social disaffection in the country and increasing problems of marginalised youth in many urban slum areas. This is a major disadvantage for the Ghanaian youth. How does the youth whom we claim are the future leaders of this nation use their present energy productively in eradicating poverty and achieving sustainable national production and consumption of the country? In view of this and many others contribute to the reasons why politicians are taking the advantage of the plights of the Ghanaian youth to cause mayhem in order for them to benefit during elections.

It is also becoming a norm as some politicians during elections go round polling stations ostensibly to supervise the electoral process without accreditation from the Electoral Commission. They resort to the use of ‘Machomen’ (most of whom are the youth) which over the last two decades have become an emerging phenomenon in the Ghanaian political and electoral system. The youth are used as bodyguards by the political leaders to create disorder, intimidate voters, especially in areas considered to be strongholds of opposing parties, and disrupt the electoral process where one perceives defeat. Is it not the state institutions like the Ghana Police Service with the primary responsibility of providing the required security to all the stakeholders in the electoral process? Consequently, when opposing political party agents object to their unauthorized presence at the polling station, it usually leads to confrontation and sometimes violence between their bodyguards and the agents who are diligently discharging their duties.

Politicians in Ghana know very well that the youth are very crucial and must contribute to the nation’s political development but they have become perpetrators and victims of political violence especially during election period. Ghanaian politicians exploit these youth as political thugs which are well organized and structured and task them to perform sundry activities such as harassment, intimidation and maiming with impunity in the name of political wings and movements.

As the country joins the rest of the world to celebrate this year’s youth day, CADA would like to emphasise that the youth should be economically empowered through sincere, participatory and youth oriented skill acquisition and employment generation scheme. Socially, the youth should be empowered through civil orientation and educations to enable them understand their roles (rights and duties) in society. And they should also be empowered politically through meaningful political socialisation and constructive participation in politics. The youth should be made to be aware that they are potential leaders of tomorrow and that no politician ambition is worth their blood and future. Youth as the doorways to a peace continuum must be exposed to peace education. CADA believes that peace education will help to address the culture of electoral related violence and aggression and also inculcate the values of peaceful coexistence and non-electoral violence among the youth and adults alike. In the opinion of CADA, Ghanaian youth have to know what peace is and guard themselves against embracing or being used to foment violence.

Thank you.
…….Signed……………
Frank Adarkwah-Yiadom
Executive Director-CADA