Africa needs to empower youths
EDITOR — Africa once dubbed the dark continent continues unabated on its trend of not satisfying needs and aspirations of its people especially the youth. My heart bleeds for betterment of African youth.
The current nature of global conflict and the array of threats confronting African Nations require immediate solutions and pooling of ideas to shape a comprehensive and conclusive response. As citizens of Africa and entire African diaspora we need to rise up and say a big NO to terrorism and xenophobia.
Terrorism and xenophobia presents a serious and sustained threat to the Africa and Africa progress.The Terrorist and xenophobia groups seek to cause widespread disruption, fear and intimidation. They use violence as a means of publicising their causes motivating those who might be sympathetic to them and intimidating those who do not sympathise .
What is the truth? What does it set you free from? The Webster’s Dictionary definition below says what the word truth means: “truth: being in accord with fact or reality.” Thus, the truth sets you free from anything that is NOT in accordance with fact or reality, the truth sets you free from lies/deception/illusions/delusions. The African fathers who pioneered liberation struggle when they discovered the truth that we are under colonial bondage definitely brought “freedom” when they discovered the “truth” of Africa. The truth of the matter was Africa was under colonial bondage.
In John 8 vs 32, then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. If you mention names like Kwame Nkrumah, Julius Nyerere, Nelson Mandela, Robert Magabe, Joshua Nkomo, Kenneth Kaunda, Jomo Kenyatta, Oliver Tambo, Thabo Mbeki, Samora Machel, Sam Nujoma, Patrice Lumumba etc.
They discovered the truth that we have to be liberated from colonial rule. These names are associated with sacrifice, liberation, instead of preaching revenge they promoted forgiveness after independence.
They went to war and achieved their noble cause of truth (freedom). They paid the price in order to achieve this noble cause.
They were incarcerated into prisons and others taken into detention centres for years but they never gave up but it gave them stamina for the next move. They wanted to break the racial barriers as you know blacks used to be treated as dogs.
During that time, these great leaders were treated like animals because they had voiced against prejudice, racial inequality and for their countries sovereignty.
They were even regarded as terrorists. They achieved the fruits of Pan-Africanism. The truth apparently is not enough as evidence shows that diplomacy is needed to be blended with history in order to satisfy the dream of our continent .
Elders you played your role for bringing freedom to Africa. Why are things now upside down in Africa? We have Boko Haram in Sambisa forests in Nigeria, Al Shabab in Somalia, xenophobic attacks in SA, Rebels/ warlords in DRC, Uganda Lord Resistance Army, poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa, Arab Spring uprising that toppled sitting governments in Libya, Egypt and Tunisia etc. As elders of Africa have you asked yourself why this is happening.
I want to be frank this is birthed from frustration due to unemployment and poverty. What have we done as heads of state in Africa to empower our youth?
Empowering is not always giving money or resources but it’s open door policy which will create room for our youth to discover their potential. Youths are not a security threat but are leaders of tomorrow.
We need youths to be involved in nation building and programmes that seek to improve their well being.In targeting youth bearers we have to ensure there is gender equity and equality so that there are no disparities in our programmes.
Governments in Africa should not fear citizens and citizens should not fear their governments. We need one another as Africans we can’t do without each other. Let’s develop Africa. We have talented people in Africa.
Let’s not sideline their views and their resources regardless of their station in life. Every son and daughter of the African soil has a right to participate in resource mobilisation and capacity utilisation so as to fully benefit as citizens of the continent.
Let’s ensure that youth are meaningfully involved in country level affairs before they get lured into terrorism, xenophobia, drug trafficking and other vices. Let’s have an inclusive approach where every citizen feels the ‘‘country ownership’’ and so will find rebelling against fellow citizens a needless enterprise.
For this framework to succeed it must be implemented as an Africa-wide project where the focal person will visit and have a continuous dialogue with African leaders or their proxies (AU). There is a high stakes diplomatic project that needs Africa’s commitment in addressing the concerns of continent citizens . Enos Denhere, via email.