RE: Government Won’t Be Pressured Into Implementing Youth Policy

I read with keen interest the above story on myjoyonline.com and I think that as a lead advocate for the implementation of a national youth policy I should put certain issues in perspective. The Deputy Employment Minister may be right by saying that government won’t be pressured into implementing the National Youth Policy.

There are many people, including myself, who share the view that for a government that came to power with a different ideology and for that matter a manifesto which will serve as a basis of holding it (government) accountable for the promises they made to the people of Ghana, it needs reconcile it vision and promises for the youth with what is contained in the current youth policy. There are others that argue that government should be considered as an entity and that there should be perpetual succession irrespective of which party is in power. However, that is not our main concern as those who are advocating for the implementation of the youth policy.

The deputy minister indicated that the NDC was not involved in the review process of drafting the current policy but that is not true. It was the National Youth organizers of the respective political parties, including leaders of youth organizations, who actually drove the process of the review at the National level after district and regional consultations. Bernard Mornah and Wilson of the PNC, Prince Adams of the NDC, James Kwabena Bomfeh Jnr of the CPP, Prince Derrick Adjei of the DFP, John Boadu of the NPP among other party youth leaders participated actively in the process and that was the level of consultation available to all parties. At this point, I think the National Youth Council will help us a lot if it breaks its silence on the various processes the current policy had undergone.

Again, that is not the gravamen of our concern. The issue of the national youth policy should not be reduced to mere ‘politicking’. In any case, both the NPP and the NDC have failed the youth of Ghana in terms of policy. They have both ruled without any clear direction for youth development in Ghana. Since independence, there has not been any clear policy on youth development in Ghana. All we see are a piece-meal approaches and knee-jerk responses to challenges facing the young people of Ghana.

Since Ghana’s return to constitutional democracy in 1992, the NDC had the opportunity to rule for eight (8) years. Throughout these years there was no clear policy on youth development. It was in 1999 that a youth policy was launched. Then as fate had it, they lost power in 2009. Consequently, the policy was virtually suspended by the NPP government with the similar excuses as we are hearing today from the NDC government. They want to make it ‘more dynamic, pro-youth, multi-partisan’ and that the policy lacked an action plan. It took the NPP government too its entire tenure in office (8 years) just to review the youth policy and add an action plan. God being on the side of the young people of Ghana, the policy received cabinet’s blessing in December, 2008. (There is a controversy over this fact but I say it with confidence because I have evidence to support my claim). As it turned out, the people of Ghana changed the baton of leadership again in the 2008 elections and returned NDC to power. Here we are again with the issue of a review of the national youth policy.

The young people of Ghana have a legitimate cause to complain about this situation of lack of political commitment to their development. What is so special about the National Youth Policy that it is the only policy that has become a “football” to pass on from one government to the other while the youth remain victims of this phenomenon? Throughout the tenure of both governments numerous policies were formulated, laws have been passed even under certificates of emergency but how come we do not have just a youth policy? - political commitment.

In spite of the commitment of our government to the Commonwealth of Nations to implement a national youth policy we remain where we are. Review according to the Oxford English Dictionary means ‘a formal assessment of something with the intention of instituting change if necessary’ emphasis mine. If this definition is anything to go by then how long will it take government to examine the policy to find out if it is necessary to make changes or not? Meanwhile, we have a Ministry responsible for youth and sports as well as the National Youth Council. In any case, government has not told the people of Ghana whose taxes have been invested in producing and refining the youth policy time and again what defects they have seen in the document. More so, this issue should not be difficult to resolve. Neither should it take much time since young people across the country were heavily involved in the process of developing the policy. It goes without saying that what government intends to do for the young people of Ghana should not be so different from what the young people themselves wish hence these differences can always be reconciled within the shortest time possible.

Dear reader, while the struggle for the implementation of a national youth policy continues, I wish to reiterate that the destiny of our dear country cannot be disengaged from the quality of investment we make in the young people of Ghana who constitute majority of the country’s population and are the much trumpeted future leaders. Is it a concern to us that the youth remain vulnerable to diseases such as HIV/AIDS where statistics indicate that the youth are the worst affected? Are we worried that more young people are uneducated, unskilled and unemployed which figures we cannot clearly tell? Are we concerned that more young people are involved in criminal and other anti-social activities majority of whom are in jail? Are we concerned that many young people are susceptible to manipulation to engage in conflict? If the situation remains this way because we keep doing the same old things and getting the same old results then where are we heading to as a nation?

The time to act is now. I wish appeal to government to act as matter urgency. It is not about any political party. It is about the future of our dear country. To you my fellow youth, I encourage to join the advocacy for the implementation of a national youth policy irrespective of your political and social standing because we cannot fail ourselves and posterity.

Prosper Hoetu

Youth Network for Human Rights and Democracy

E-mail: [email protected]