Youth Participation In Decision Making To Receive A Boost

Youth participation in decision-making processes is to receive a boost to enable the youth to voice their concerns on a united front as political parties campaigned for the December general elections and beyond. To this effect, the National Youth Council (NYC) on Friday inducted into office an interim National Executive Committee of the Federation of Youth Associations of Ghana (FEDYAG) to champion that mandate. FEDYAG is made up of youth organizations registered with the NYC who are being equipped with knowledge on how government worked to enable them to conduct themselves as interest groups rather than being identified as part of a youth movement. Speaking at the induction ceremony in Accra, Mr Stephen Mensah-Etsibah, Director of Organizations and Programmes of NYC advised the youth to develop programmes and demonstrate commitment to public service and national development. He stated that Ghanaian youth were usually not represented at international youth events to champion their interests due to weak structures and poor coordination. According to him, Ghana was the only country among the Commonwealth countries which had its Youth Council dependent solely on government for funding hence the Council was facilitating the work of FEDYAG to enable it become autonomous to achieve its objectives. He called on the government to expedite action on the National youth Policy to ensure better representation of the youth in all government structures.