Youth to participate in Parliamentary debate

The National Youth Authority (NYA) is establishing a virtual electronic platform that would encourage youth participation in the discussion of bills, policies and agreements that come before parliament.

“This is still in its teething stages but will be fully implemented by June this year,” Mr Kofi Humado, Minister of Youth and Sports, announced this on Friday at the launch of the 60th Anniversary celebration of the Bishop Herman College in Accra.

The launch of the anniversary, which is on the theme: “Bishop Herman College: A Great Catholic Institution,” also coincided with the launch of an endowment fund by Old Students Association of the College to support activities their alma mater.

He said the electronic platform being designed on the NYA’s website would be managed by a team who would follow the Parliamentary Calendar for the collation of views and input of the youth via the website. It would also reach out to the Students’ Parliament and other identifiable youth groups in society.

According to the Minister, through the platform, “views would be collated, summarized and presented to the respective parliamentary committees to which the Speaker refers a Bill submitted by the Executive arm of Government on the topic of interest to the youth.”

“We believe that this will be a modest start to actually have input from the youth into the decision making process in our national parliament”.

He expressed regret that today’s youth are becoming very passive and apathetic to national development issues and affairs , saying the Youth Policy of Ghana had, therefore, been designed to empower the youth to participate positively in the decision making processes of communities and all other relevant levels.

Mr Humado asked second cycle schools and tertiary institutions which did not have a Youth Parliament to do so to enable them to have that platform where the youth could discuss issues of national importance and also learn about parliamentary practice.

He further stressed the need to continue implementing education which was not only focused on core academic subjects but also that which included programmes on life skills and leadership development.

“This will help to develop quality all round students who can easily face the vagaries of life in their social, economic and political environment and help to contribute towards the growth and development of the nation,” Mr Humado said.