Hundreds of young people have participated in the opening day of the Makeni Civic Day Series. The event which took place at University of Makeni, brought together young people who were drawn from schools, universities and informal sector led conversations on civic responsibility.
Students, Bike Riders, School pupils and other young people were divided in to groups to brainstorm on the role of young people in several aspects of society.
The young people did presentation on their role in ensuring national activities like Census in successful, and constitutional review process captures their aspirations.
Mohamed Koroma said; “We are no longer leaders o f the future, youths are the leaders of today. We want to make sure the challenges we have as young people are addressed in the constitution.”
Deputy Minister of Youth Affairs, Patrick Girbrilla praised the young people for their active participation during the program. He said President Bio has set a bold example by entrusting more young people like him with leadership positions.
“I am among several young people in this government, who are ministers. This shows the trust President Bio has in young people,” he said.
During the plenary, young people presented critical points from the group conversation they had.
One of the groups focused on The Role of Young People in the fight against Corruption. Member of the group, Abu Koroma said: “Young people should be accountable, we should hold our self to the same standard we want to hold others to. We should be accountable in service and give stewardship.”
He also called on Anti-Corruption Commission to intensify civic engagement on corruption and its dangers to the society.
During the engagement, there was a special group representing young people with hearing disability. This group focused on the documenting the challenges they face in accessing public service and opportunities.
They praised the Ministry of Information and Civic Education for its inclusive approach to communication.
“The ministry has ensured we get sign language interpreter for every public event. We want other institutions to copy this example,” Edmund Conteh said.
Speaking through an interpreter, Edmund Conteh said they also have challenges to access opportunities.
“Some of us are graduates from college, but unfortunately we cant get a job because of our disability. We want the government to make sure we get an equal employment opportunity.”
The group said awareness about their disability has to be strengthened, they said it is very easy for people not to consider them as people with disability.
Ministry officials collected all their points and committed to forward them to the relevant ministries. Some of the points could also be directly addressed by responsible ministers during the major town hall tomorrow.
