Youth group wants qualifying age for presidency reduced to 35 years

The Dynamic Youth Movement of Ghana (DYMOG) has proposed an amendment to Article 62 (b) and other relevant constitutional provisions to reduce the age limit to at least 35 years to qualify to run for the position of a president in Ghana.

According to Article 62 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana, a person shall not be qualified for election as the president of Ghana unless: (a) he/she is a citizen of Ghana by birth. (b) he/she has attained the age of forty years, but DYMOG said this must change.

The youth group in a statement to mark the 2020 International Youth Day on Wednesday, August 12, 2020, said it is on the cusp of announcing a campaign to that effect in the ensuing months.

“Political parties must also commit to a certain significant percentage of appointment of the Youth, however, we admit that this should be informed by policy acknowledging that the number of Youthful appointees isn’t coterminous to Youthful representation.

“That is, the mere quantum jump in numbers of youthful appointees, doesn’t necessarily mean adequate representation unless through a tailored effort by policy or constitutional provisions to ameliorate the challenges confronting the Ghanaian Youth.

“The policy must lucidly give the indicia for selection of the young people to various Government agencies and to establish a potent nexus between the number of Youth appointees and Youth representation,” the statement said.

DYMOG said it celebrates the relentless and energetic spirit of the Ghanaian youth on the occasion of the International Youth Day

The contribution to the political, cultural, economic and social development of Ghana by the Ghanaian youth is manifestly seen, according to the group.

This year’s theme, “Youth Engagement for Global Action” which, seeks to highlight the ways in which the engagement of young people at the local, national and global levels can be enhanced, speaks to the core deficit of youth participation in the governance architecture.

According to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social affairs about 70% of the continent’s population is under the age of 30yrs. Africa’s Youth bulge is leading to an emerging crisis because, the level of engagement in politics remains lower than that of the older generations.

The recent “Afrobarometer Research” shows that despite the appetite the youth has for politics, there is, inertia to convert it, into action during elections. Also, the 2016 report by the Inter – Parliamentary union (IPU) on youth participation in national parliaments, people under the age 30 make up only 2 percent of parliamentarians around the World.

“We furthermore point out that, the 2018 IPU report on Youth participation in national Parliaments, 15.5 percent of the World’s MP’s are under age 40 up from 14.2 percent in 2016, an increase of 1.3 percentage points. 28.1 percent of the World MPs, are under age 45 up from 26 percent in 2016, a 2.1 percentage point increase, the global proportion of MPs under age 30 increased by only 0.3 percentage points since 2016( from 1.9 percent to 2.2 percent). 2. 2 percent of the World’s MPs, are under age 30- up from 1.9 percent in 2016, a slight increase of 0.3 percentage points”.