By KABS KANU :
All roads lead to Port Loko this morning as the much-talked-about All People’s Congress ( APC ) Youth Conference kicks off with unprecedented gusto. All branches of the APC Youth League in Sierra Leone and globally are expected to take part in the conference.
In the words of the APC Youth Leader in the Holland Branch of the party, “The stakes are high, taking into consideration the up coming national delegates convention,and the generation elections slated for March 2018.” However , it must be borne in mind that the youth conference is not a platform for aspirants of the party’s presidential flag bearership race to campaign. They are all barred from wearing aspirant campaign T-shirts to attend the conference , demonstrating the fact that the youths will be focusing more on their role in national development during the conference.
PRESIDENT KOROMA IS POPULAR WITH THE YOUTHS
That Sierra Leone has reached the point in her democratic metamorphosis when youths can hold such a big and important conference is a testament to the inclusive leadership acumen of President Ernest Koroma. The Youth Conference at the Bai Bureh Memorial Hall in Port Loko, which starts today Thursday 23 rd and ends on Saturday 25 th March 2017.is therefore yet another success story of the leadership of President Ernest Koroma.
President Koroma’s government has involved all strata of society in the running of government and the decision-making process process of the country. Women, youths , civil society , the media, children’s groups and elder statesmen and women have all been given stirring roles in the leadership apparatus and architecture of government during the incumbency of President Koroma.
Youths in Sierra Leone were given a shot in the arm when President Koroma established the Ministry of Youth and put in charge a young man with an effusive , dynamic and outstanding personality , Bai Mahmoud, who commands tremendous respect and support from the youn men and women of the country. In addition, President Koroma appointed youths to important positions of trust and authority . They are ministers of government, ambassadors , high -level diplomats, heads of parastatals and what-have-you, thereby playing key roles in the running of the country, as is the case too with women.
The role of youths in national cohesion, national integration and national development cannot be downplayed , especially in this day and age when youthful drive , youthful vision and youthful enterprise can no longer be ignored in a fast-changing and evolving world of discovery, advancing technology and high dreams and visions of a better society that require the input and output of both young and elderly.
The vision of our nation is in the hands of our youths. They are no longer only the leaders of tomorrow. They are also the leaders of today. They are imbued with tremendous talents and leadership abilities that our nation, and indeed the world, can no longer ignore.
It is therefore the hope of the COCORIOKO Newspaper that they will use this conference not only to discuss party issues, but urgent national matters relevant to youths elsewhere in the society. Since they belong to the most organized, most united and most enterprising political party in Sierra Leone, the APC Youths can be a beacon of light and inspiration to the other youths in the country.
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