Ghana @ 51; what does it mean for Ghanaian youth?

Birthdays are usually joyous occasions, lots of laughter, lots of food and drink, dancing, and general merrymaking. Birthdays also call for a deep and sober reflection of the past years, a celebration of the achievements gained, a grieving for the opportunities lost and an examination of the general trajectory of one’s life.

Ghana's fifty-first (51st) independence anniversary is a great opportunity for us, the youth of Ghana, to examine our role in the development of the country. We need to seize the opportunities that abound at this time even as we celebrate our independence anniversary. Countless number of people, including foreign leaders and our local politicians, have repeatedly been saying that Ghana is poised for rapid economic growth from as far back as the year 2000 when Ghana was 44 years old. Today, after 7 years of tortuous progress, that rapid economic growth has still not been attained. What is the missing ingredient? What crucial component has been left out of the equation? What does the nation as a whole have to do to achieve middle income status by the 2030 target that we set ourselves?

The answer, my brothers and sisters is the youth. The key component that has eluded Ghana for the past 7 years of arduous search is the active participation of the youth in national development. Today's youth is more highly educated than ever before in the history of this country, if combined with the many opportunities that have recently be unearthed in the country such as the discovery of crude oil, MCA and AGOA, the development of Ghana will match and exceed that of the Asian Tigers.

Today's youth have to re-engineer their ways of thinking and start thinking outside the box. What this translates into is basically the youth should go out there and create jobs for themselves instead of sitting around and waiting to be employed by one of the many state owned organisations. Yes, this is not easy but it can be done! And of course the youth can use all the help they can get. A typical example of such an initiative could be a group of young people coming together to form an association or company, source for financing through the micro- credit finance scheme of the millennium challenge account and go into large scale farming, fishing, agro-processing, textile production, etc. Due to the recent African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA) that seeks to liberalise trade between America and African countries, products can easily be exported to America for some foreign exchange. If this simple model is replicated in one form or the other all across the country, we will definitely attain the middle income status target we set for ourselves. Let us respond to the words of the song "Arise Ghana youth for your country, your nation demands your devotion" and rise up to the challenge at this time when our nation needs us most.

The GHANA YOUTH COUNCIL is committed to helping the youth of Ghana to develop their potential and take their place as successful citizens of the country. The council is an association of the youth and young professionals of Ghanaian descent primarily based in Canada and the US. To join the Ghana Youth Council, please register at WWW.GHANAYOUTHONLINE .ORG.