The
appropriate role of the youth in our Ghanaian society to nation building has
been a subject of controversy for some time now, as there is no clearly defined
role given to them in matters pertaining to nation building.
In my opinion, two schools of thought have
emerged in the light of these debates. Those who doubt the readiness and
capacity of the youth to nation building and therefore take centre stage in
advocating for a nation controlled by the elderly. The other group is those who
believe that the youth has a significant stake in nation building, considering
the number of youths in the world and therefore advocate for a greater
participation in nation building.
Indeed,
the importance or role of the youth to nation building was given an impetus,
boost or credence when President John Dramani Mahama aptly put-forward a challenge to the youth of Ghana to be an active
part in nation building .He stated unequivocally “take ownership of this country, and join in the authorship of its story”.
He further called on the youth to leave a mark on the blank pages of Ghana’s
history in his New Year message or address to Ghanaians on 31st
December, 2012. Equally instructive is the comments made by former secretary
General Kofi Annan that “young people
are key agents of development and must be at the forefront of global change and
innovation” in an interview with Joy FM on February 2, 2013.
With
Ghana’s present population estimated at a little over 24million per the 2010
population census and those between 15-35 constituting more than 50 percent of
the total population, it is understandable why there is an upsurge in the advocacy
for greater participation of the youth in nation building.
For
the purposes of this article, it is important to count all those between ages
15-35 as my definition of youth which comprises students, employees, workers, farmers
and persons from various professions including the unemployed-educated or otherwise.
This classification stems from the fact that the definitions of the specific
age range that constitute youth vary. This is evidenced by the fact that an
individual’s actual maturity may not correspond to their chronological age, as
immature individuals can exist at all ages.
Undoubtedly,
these people constitute a large force, they are energetic, smart, enthusiastic and full of zeal and willing to deliver quality
work on time but, unfortunately majority of these young folks are without
direction, obviously because our nation has not made the needed efforts to
align them appropriately. Indeed, there is no denying the fact that allowing
them to remain idle without any way of contributing to nation building has a
detrimental effect on the progress of our nation and the eventual increase in
their frustration thereby leading to youthful waywardness.
Arguably,
a large number of them are capable, devoted, dedicated and are fond of work. Their inability to contribute to
engender nation building is as a result of their being without any worthwhile
job and the reality of not given avenue to realize the depth of their
potential. It is definitely not good news to our nation if these energetic
hands and brains are not provided with some sort of work to meet the demands of
our nation. No nation I dare say, in the
21st century will permit such wastage and Ghana must wake up from
its slumber.
Fellow
countrymen, this is not to say that the establishment of the national youth
employment programme by the government of Ghana is not laudable or good. It is
a good start but efforts must be put in place to weed out political patronage
to ensure its sustenance and above all the realization of its goal. It is not a
hidden fact that past and present governments try as much as possible to fill
their party surrogates into the programme as a form of reward for the support
they gave them in their electoral victories. Nobody has a problem with that,
because as far as am concerned they are also Ghanaians and thus are entitled to
some sort of work. What I am however against is the reality of them not working
but receiving their due at the end of the month. A case in point is of those who
have been assigned to schools without them even stepping a foot there but at
the end receive their salaries simply because they are aligned to a party and
so on.
Equally
appalling is the fact that some persons at the helm of affairs will employ
people to the programme who are non-existent, otherwise referred to as “ghost workers’’ and at the end of the
month receive the salaries on behalf of ‘these people’ and the fact that even
those who turn out for work are not paid on time and most often receive paltry
sums. Am sorry I have to go on this tangent in establishing my point, but the
crux of the matter is that more efforts need to be put in place to sanitize the
programme to make it more relevant.
Back
to my earlier point; Indeed, I recollect vividly the remarks made by my childhood
friend, Chrispin Ajedipe, a final year Petroleum Engineering student of Kwame Nkrumah
University of Science and Technology (KNUST),
Kumasi, when he shared his thoughts on the role of the youth in nation building.
Interestingly, he indicated that “the problem is not with the youth but with
our nation, what Ghana needs to do is to take the youth into confidence, give
them a direction, for their energy is overwhelming”, interesting remarks folks!
Equally
significant is the remarks made by Oral Jesse Ansah“the youth should be more interested in
education since education is the fulcrum or pivot around which the whole nation
revolves.” Arguably what he sought
to imply was that when the youth have access to education they can contribute
significantly to nation building.
Their
remarks undoubtedly remind me of the statement made by Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) that “Give me a museum and I'll fill it."
Indeed,
I couldn’t agree less with my good friends because, I am one of the few youth
advocates who have never doubted the capacity of the youth. This massive and
overwhelming manpower of the youth can do wonders provided their enthusiasm is
harnessed towards projecting the developmental agenda of our nation, otherwise
touted as BETTER GHANA AGENDA by our
current government.
Let me equally put on record that;
Ghanaian youth have never lag behind
when called to duty or meet a challenge. It is therefore, for our national
leaders to play their part by mobilizing our energies and abilities and give us
a clearly defined direction where we can contribute to nation building.
Interestingly,
am not oblivious of what advocates and pundits of the first school of thought (which I will call anti-youth) will say
or are saying, that the youth’s inability to contribute to nation building is
as a result of youthful waywardness or negative youthful exuberance and the
youth apathetic attitude towards nation building. I want to state here and now,
that let there be no doubt about our strength,
power and capability to
significantly contribute in changing the fortunes of our nation and determining
its destiny. Our counterparts elsewhere have changed governments in their countries,
contributed significantly to policy formulation and direction and contributed
in various ways in making the world a better place to live. The creation of
facebook and twitter are cases in point.
There
is no denying the fact that it was the youth of Tunisia, Egypt and Libya who
started and overthrew their governments in the Arab spring. The overthrow of President
Sokarno of Indonesia is also a case in point. The recent history of Czechoslovakia,
Cambodia, Pakistan and France among others lends credence to the invaluable
force of the youth movements in the 21st century.
Who
can deny the contributions of the youth in the independence struggle and
subsequent liberation of our country Ghana?
The inspiring role played by the Gold Coast and West African students
union to the independence of our nation and most African states is undeniably
recognizably remarkable. After independence, the youth through National Union of Ghana students (NUGS),
West African Students Union (WASU)
and All African Students Union (AASU)
respectively, continue to shape policy formulation and vital interventions in
the development of democracy in our country and in many other countries in
Africa.
It
is vivid that when the youths are excluded, the rest of the population of our
country will comprise of old people and children and they cannot be seen or
called the real manpower of the nation. I dare say that if the youth of Ghana is not enthuse to devote their energies
to the task of nation building ,then the whole manpower of the nation is being
wasted.
While
stating the above, I humbly submit and recognize that the task of nation
building is enormous, as it has many phases which therefore imply that there is
work for every youthful hand. All it
takes is to assign tasks or jobs to the youth according to their capacity.
It
saddens my heart that youth groups which are student-led and are supposed to be
speaking in shaping national policy are dent silent. Why? They are simply
afraid to be tagged as against or for the government. This is the sorry state
of our current student movements such as National
Union of Ghana Students (NUGS), Ghana
Union of Professional Students (GUPS), Graduate
Students Association of Ghana (GRASAG), University Students Association of Ghana (USAG), Teacher Trainees Association of Ghana
(TTAG), Ghana National Union of Polytechnic
Students (GNUPS) and Private
University Students Association (PUSA) among others. This delineation of
boundary because of the fear of being tagged is obviously a recipe for disaster
and a dent on the independence of these hitherto independent and forceful youth
movements.
Sorry
I have to bore you with this piece of information. I thought it was crucial for
me to update you on the current unfortunate state of our student movements.
Back
to the task of nation building, for the youth to adequately contribute to
nation building the following should be instituted.
First
of all, one critical area their energies can be channeled is AGRICULTURE. The government can create
schemes or programmes connected at raising the level of production in
agriculture. The youth maybe assigned the job of dissemination of knowledge for
better new farming techniques and proper use of fertilizers and pesticides.
What is important is for them to be given adequate training in these tasks.
Another
field where their energy can be gainfully employed is the task of ADULT EDUCATION. It is my conviction
that when they are given a little dose of incentive or encouragement and
support they may take over the great responsibility of fulfilling the tasks
fixed by the government. Their services may similarly be utilized by government
for preventing and fighting crime like internet
fraud, hoarding, smuggling, human trafficking and black marketing among
others.
They
can create public opinion against those who engage in such criminal practices, thereby
contributing in making the world a better place.
Undoubtedly, the role of the youth to nation
building is enormous and I don’t intent to bore you with a lot of examples on
this maiden edition on the above caption. However, it is my hope that pragmatic
efforts will be put in place by the powers that be, to engender the youth’s
participation in nation building.
We must therefore all get involved to re-ignite the
debate on the appropriate role of the youth in nation building. I rest my case
for now and to delve deeper into the matter subsequently.
God bless our homeland Ghana!
Steve Kubate Salifu
The writer is the External affairs
Secretary of GIJ SRC.
Sksteveworld.blogspot.com
Email: s.ksteve2020@gmail.com
Telephone: 0247648864.
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