Duty bearers tasked to create opportunities for the youth

Duty bearers in the country have been charged to create opportunities for the youth to serve in various fields including conflict resolution.

Mr Dauda James Abang-Gos, the Upper East Regional Coordinator, National Youth Authority, made the call at the celebration of this year’s International Youth Day, on the theme “Youth in Civic Engagement” at Bawku in the Upper East Region.

Mr Abang-Gos noted that the National Youth Authority (NYA) as a responsible government lead agency for development work has a gender policy where both men and women were provided equal opportunities to develop their potentials to the fullest.

He said the NYA was collaborating with relevant institutions such as the Regional Inter-sectoral Network (RISEGNET) and the Community Development and Advocacy Center (CODAC) among others to advocate for and empower young people especially women to get involved in politics.

He noted that no woman from the Region had ever been appointed by government to high offices, such as Ministerial, Ambassadorial or as a member of the Council of State among others, saying that was unfortunate and detrimental to development.

The Coordinator, however, commended the government for its commitment to raising the number of women in governance at the local and national level.

He appealed to the Upper East Regional Minister to scale up the number of women to be appointed to the new district assemblies in September, especially for Bawku as there was no woman contesting the assembly seat.

Mr Issaku Bukari, the Bawku Municipal Chief Executive, said about 50 per cent of government appointees to the assembly this year would be women for gender equity in the dispensation of good governance in the municipality.

He urged the youth to be ambassadors of peace because it was the only alternative tool that could bring about development in Bawku and the entire country.

He disclosed that many resources meant for the development of the area was usually diverted to maintaining peace whenever there was conflict in the area.

Mr Haruna Alhassan, in charge of Human Resource of the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) in Bawku, noted that the youth was a striving force that could bring change to society and that there was the need for duty bearers to create eligible platforms for them to contribute their quota to development.