Let’s Develop Confidence In The Youth -Veep

Vice President Kwesi Amissah-Arthur has emphasised the need to develop confidence in the youth to help tackle the nation's challenges.

He said since the young people were the nation's future, it was important that they cultivated values that would enable them become agents of change. Vice President Amissah-Arthur made the call at the Gold Award Ceremony under the Head of State Awards Scheme at the Flagstaff House in Accra.

This year's award, which was on the theme: “Celebrating the Achievements of Young People”, was to honour the youth who, through volunteerism, selfless service and hard work, have made a difference in the lives of members of their communities. Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, who is on a three-day visit to Ghana, joined the Vice President to present the awards to the recipients.

The award started in 1936 as the Duke of Edinburgh's International Award, and had been adopted by about 140 countries, with about 10 million members. In all, 96 young people, who dedicated their time to developing their ability and skills to help their communities, received this year's Gold Award.

Vice President Amissah-Arthur said the government would continue to invest in the youth, as it was convinced that investing in them was the best way to use the state's resources. He said that was why the government continually developed, designed, and implemented social intervention programmes to empower and build the competences of the youth.

He said the Head of State Awards encouraged the young people to be patriotic and perform services to help their community members. Prince Edward expressed delight that more young people were being honoured for their voluntarism and dedicated service to make a difference in the lives of people.

He said even though the award was to recognise individual achievement, their success had been attained with support from their parents, relatives and friends among others, who needed to be commended.     “Today is their day, and we should be proud of what they have done in making a difference in their communities,” he said.

Prince Edward encouraged the awardees to inspire the youth to try and do more for their communities.

He said, over the last 10 years, more than four million young people had embarked on journeys that merit recognition, adding that two million young people had so far received the Gold Award. He expressed the hope that the number would double in the next 10 years.

Source: GNA