First Lady urges youth to desist from violence

The First Lady, Dr Ernestina Naadu-Mills, has advised young people in the country to desist from acts that could breed chaos with the approach of the presidential elections.

"All over the world, especially in Africa, the youth have been used to engineer hostilities, typically during election periods and Ghana is not different at all".

The First Lady said this in a speech on Monday at the opening ceremony of the 2012 International Youth Fellowship (IYF), World Youth Camp, at Tema.

She said conflict was a natural occurrence among humans, adding that it was thus only wise to be tolerant and appreciate conflict resolution, "especially among the youth".

Dr Naadu Mills said whilst it was important for the youth to completely avoid those who were bent on influencing them towards violence, it was also the duty of every citizen to compliment the efforts of government in preserving "the peace, democracy and harmony we enjoy".

She said with peace being pivotal to any country's stability, it was highly commendable that the IYF had brought youth together from several countries and places to discuss issues of which peace was a key topic.

Pastor Park Ock Soo, founder of IYF, urged young people to avoid pride and arrogance no matter how high their achievements might be saying, "whatever your achievement, please be humble. This keeps you from becoming arrogant and makes you a better achiever."

He said "whenever you believe too much in yourself, such an attitude prevents you from listening to others and in the end, you might end up falling because you probably missed out on some key truths."

Pastor Soo said he had observed that the youth of Ghana had a humble attitude, "keep that humility, and you would become great leaders of your nation in future".

The IYF World Youth Camp, is a collaboration between the IYF and the National Youth Authority, and is scheduled for July 20th to 26th.

The event seeks to promote unity and development of the youth through bible seminars and lectures by notable speakers.**