Speaker urges youth to develop themselves for leadership
The Speaker of Parliament, Professor Aaron Mike Oquaye, has charged the youth to prepare themselves to take up the mantle of leadership of the country in future.
According to him the youth as the future leaders must adapt to new ways of doing things if they were to succeed.
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Professor Oquaye made the call when the Youth Parliamentarians of the Youth Empowerment For Life (YEFL), under the auspices of Star-Ghana Foundation, paid a courtesy call on him at his office in Parliament House.
The group represents 175 youth parliamentarians from 25 communities in five districts of the Northern Region of Ghana, namely Sagnarigu, Yendi, Saboba, Nanumba South and Nanumba North and other youth advocates.
The Youth Parliament is an initiative to provide platform for young people to have engagement with decentralised duty bearers and find solutions to issues concerning community development.
Matters concerning women
Professor Oquaye also charged the group not to focus only on governance issues but matters concerning women and children as well as other vulnerable people within the society.
He urged the youth to channel their energies to activities which would be beneficial to their communities.
Mr Ibrahim Tanko, the acting Chief Executive of Star-Ghana, stated that the objective for supporting the youth parliament was to increase the participation of young people, including female and People With Disabilities (PWDs) in governance and decision making processes.
Male dominated society
He said the YEFL observed in their work that young people in the communities including girls and PWDs lacked the voice, resources and platformsto act in an adult and male dominated society.
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He said the youth also needed the spaces and opportunity for political participation and influence in local governance processes.
Mr Tanko explained that the youth parliament and community journalism were being used to change the behaviour and attitude of the youth, build their confidence and skills to engage effectively.
He said the aim was to create a friendly and sustainable accountability platform to stimulate dialogue for change in youth involvement in governance processes at the community and district level.
He explained that the project had a clear selection criteria and training guides which set out rules and responsibilities for the youth to yield maximum participation by all. — GNA