THE YOUTH and THE PRESIDENTIAL ASPIRANT

The recent increased participation in ‘Political Communication’ by the youth of Ghana has shown the extent to which the subject has been embraced. It is then realized that the saying ‘the future belongs to the youth’ is taking effect as the youth in Ghana are actively engaging in political matters which concerns their future. The youth have the greater say to this regard as the world is moving to their advantage, and it would be very wise to include them in political discourses.

The vacuum is then left unfilled in concluding whether political parties in Ghana actually have the youth in mind, even to the extent of engaging them in their discourses.

Political parties in Ghana need to come clean, empirically announcing their intents for the youth of Ghana, thus how they plan to get them involved in order to give them the opportunity to decide their future which has already come. ‘If the future belongs to the youth, don’t they have a say on how their future ought to be built?’

This has necessitated for the call on the presidential aspirants of the various political parties in Ghana to state their plans for the youth and their message towards the coming elections. The address would go beyond engaging the youth for political talks to allowing them to partake in the decision process that affects their lives in the short or long run.

The project is birthed from the fruitful wombs of Rassam Initiative Team in collaboration with Shakers and Movers Education Foundation USA-Ghana, West Africa Network of Election Observers, YALI Alumni Ghana and Plan International Ghana Alumni Network. The project is dubbed “Ghana Youth and Politicians Dialogue (GYPD) 2020”, under the theme “Partnership with Youth for a Peaceful Credible Election: Our Future Our Responsibility”.

The programme is scheduled for 27^th September to 15^th November 2020; time is 4:00-6:00 GMT which would take place via the internet; Zoom, Facebook and YouTube.

By: Albert Agbenyegah