The Youth Leadership Dialogue organized by political think-tank the Danquah Institute(D.I), provided the aspiring National Youth Organizers for the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) the opportunity to express their visions for the development of the youth wings in the party.
The event saw the presence of two committed organizers hopefuls with the likes of Salam Mohammed Mustapha and Prince Kamal Gumah while the other two aspirants including Abanga Fusani Yakubu and Micheal Osei Boateng presented their contributions virtually.
During her opening remarks, Dr Antoinette Tsiboe-Darko encouraged unity among the four aspirants. She admonished the aspirants to capitalize on the platform given to represent the beliefs in principle to the philosophies and doctrines of its founding leader, J.B Danquah.
“Danquah Institute adheres to the doctrine that the duty of the state is actually to guarantee individual substantive freedom and to make the active agents in their own individual developments and that by so doing we will achieve real and lasting national development for the great people of Ghana. We are therefore supporting and promoting this dialogue. The Youth Leadership dialogue is supposed to give a wider audience for all aspirants to present their vision, discuss national concerns and to show their potential strength if they are given the mandate to go on as youth leaders. In addition the dialogue will provide an opportunity for our party to show unity and solidarity and strength as we present aspirants for our national contest,” she said.
On his part as the special guest of the night, Dr Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, Chief Executive Officer of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) commended the Danquah Institute for the youth dialogue initiative. He reiterated the symbolism of the position they seek and charged them to be committed to service to the youth wings of the party.
“I want to say to the contestants that you seek an office that by all accounts is a very important office. Forget National Chairman, Organizer, and General Secretary among the rest. In a theoretical hierarchy of a political party, we may have all these having precedence over a National youth Organizer but rarely and truly if you’re talking about the future and sustenance of a political party then you’re talking about its youth,”
The dialogue moderated by Akosua Manu, Deputy Chief Executive of the National Youth Authority (NYA) saw Salam Mohammed Mustapha take the first bite as he promised a database and management system-driven administration to, “build a resilient, formidable, bold, fearless youth wing for the NPP that can break the 8 and also take care of the needs of the young patriots. This will be premised on one ability to resource the youth wings and the capacity to lead them to find opportunities for young people in the party. The ability to also mount the fierce and aggressive mobilization of the first time voters and young people in the part.”
The former deputy national youth organizer also vows to deliver an “Internal Investment Fund” initiative and the provision of a “TESCON app” geared to develop the capacity of the youth wings.
On his part, Prince Kamal Gumah argues that most young patriots and TESCON members feel dissatisfied and neglected. He vows to cater for the needs of the youth and restore the vibrancy of the TESCON group.
“My vision for the NPP in the quest of breaking the 8 cannot be a slogan alone. We can’t break the 8 when people that put this party in power are dissatisfied. Because their government has done a great job for Ghana in 4 years talking about 2.2 million jobs and another 7,000 plus scholarships and you have the people that gave this government the mandate dissatisfied. So we cannot break the 8 when they are dissatisfied.”
“I am coming in to make sure that I breathe hope again as a young man born in Bawku. I was once the youngest polling agent in 2000 and as part of my vision I want to make sure that those energy that I have which we don’t see in our youth again is restored. They feel they have been neglected but I’ll make sure that jobs and scholarship are also directed to qualified patriots and TESCON members,” he mentioned.
The eventful youth dialogue saw the presence of great personalities including Lawyer Gabby Otchere-Darko, founder of the Danquah Institute, Regional and Constituency Executives and party patriots.
