The National Youth Coordinator, Ras Mubarak has expressed grave concerns about the continuous delay by Parliament to pass the National Youth Bill.
Mr Mubarak who was speaking to Citi News after addressing this year�s first session of the Upper West Regional Youth parliament said the delay is adversely affecting the NYA in their bid to address issues affecting young people in the country.
He stated that the Youth Bill is crucial therefore, �our MPs will have to take issues of young people seriously and the passage of the bill will indicate how serious they are about youth development� adding that �we are the today of this country and without doing away with these stumbling blocks, we can�t do a lot of the things we want to do.�
Mr. Mubarak wondered why the lawmakers still drag their feet in passing the bill after the law governing youth activities was established about 40 years ago.
He said: �The law governing youth activities was established 40 years ago my brother and was called the national youth council, the decree was 241 and has remained same why can�t they pass the bill.�
He emphasized that the world has evolved and issues affecting young people have also changed, hence the need for Ghana�s lawmakers to take issues of youth development to the next level and reiterated that the passage of the National Youth Bill will help evaluate the commitments of duty bearers and make them accountable.
The coordinator revealed that as part of efforts to address the challenges facing youth development in the country, the NYA has invited proposals from research institutions across the country to come out with concrete details of youth unemployment.
According to him, his outfit in collaboration with youth groups, departments and agencies will be meeting before the end of February to validate the concerns of young people ahead of the launch of an action plan for the NIA on the 18th of next month.
Mr. Mubarak expressed satisfaction about the level of enthusiasm among the youth in the Upper West region and called on their colleagues across the country to imbibe in themselves a sense of volunteerism to contribute to national development.
<<Print>>