IDEG Calls TEIN, TESCON Other Political Youth Groups To Be More Assertive

The institute of democratic governance IDEG has bemoaned the neglect of the youth in issues of democratic governance in the country.

The world on Monday commemorated the international day of democracy with a focus on the contribution of the youth in championing the ideals of democracy.

The theme for the celebration was, “Engaging youth on democracy.”

Speaking to ultimate radio, senior Research Fellow with IDEG, Dr Kwesi Jona indicated with disappointment that the youth have not been given enough room to influence democracy in the country.

He said even though, every party has a youth wing with a youth organizer and a student body, the extent to which these groups are involved in real decision making within the party is very limited.”

“If you check the critical decision making bodies in political parties, you usually have a chairman who is quite old, the general secretary and others but the critical decision making orders do not usually involve the youth,” he stated.

He called for political parties to engage more young people in the highest decision making bodies of political parties. He believes this is the only way to groom leaders to take over the reins of democratic governments.

He also urged youthful political groupings like the Tertiary Students Confederacy of the NPP and the Tertiary Education and Institutional Network (TEIN) of the National Democratic Congress to assert themselves to undo the democratic blunders in the country's governance.

September 15th every year marks the international day of democracy. The Day was declared by the UN General Assembly in 2007, and it aims to encourage Governments to strengthen national programmes devoted to the promotion and consolidation of democracy.

The link between democracy and human rights is captured in article 21(3) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states:

“The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.”