Youth groups appeal to political parties to prioritise climate change in manifestos

A total of 25 youth groups in the Northern Region have appealed to the various political parties to prioritise climate change issues in their manifestos to encourage their full involvement in the upcoming general elections.The groups, drawn from Tamale, Sagnarigu and Savelugu Municipalities, said the impact of climate change was severe on their livelihoods, hence being one of their topmost priorities going into elections 2024.Mr Alhassan Musah Timtooni, Speaker Northern Regional Youth Parliament, lamented over the devastating impact of climate change, saying it discouraged a lot of young people from venturing into agriculture, which had the potential to drastically reduce the alarming rate of unemployment in the country.He emphasised that the only manifesto that would attract the attention of the youth would be one, which captured issues affecting their holistic growth and development.Mr Sulemana Zakaria, Co-Convener, of Tamale Offline Hangout, emphasized the need for political parties to engage clima te change professionals in developing and implementing their manifestos to ensure that they captured and addressed the real issues of climate change.They were speaking at a town hall meeting and a debate competition held to trigger discussions that would amplify youth voices and influence towards addressing critical issues such as climate change, democracy and civic responsibility.The debate competition was held among the UDS debate society on the topics: 'Is the Ghanaian government doing enough to address climate change or do they simply play politics with climate change issues by making policies without implementation enforcement?' and 'Are Ghanaians doing enough in addressing climate change so as to improve the climate in their communities.'The debate ended in a draw with members in each receiving cash prizes for participating in the competition.It was organised by Tamale Offline Hangout in collaboration with the Savannah Women Integrated Development Agency (SWIDA-GH), Northern Regional Youth Parli ament and the Student Representative Council of UDS Tamale Campus.It formed part of the 'Building Bridges: Empowering Youth as Green Champions for Climate Resilience in Northern Ghana' project, which is funded by the Denmark Embassy in Ghana and the West Africa Network for Peacebuilding with SWIDA-GH as the local implementing agency.Hajia Alima Sagito-Saeed, Executive Director, SWIDA-GH, said the event was to empower young people to actively participate in advocating for positive change in their communities.She called on political parties to be intentional on issues of climate change, saying it must be clearly stated and spelt out in their manifestos to enable young people to make informed decisions in the upcoming elections.Alhaji Mohammed Haroun, a retired educationist, called for more advocacy and sensitisation to help address some of the misconceptions associated with climate change, especially in most rural communities.Source: Ghana News Agency