Yesterday, August 12, was recognised globally as the United Nations’ Youth Day, a day set aside to celebrate young people and their contributions to society, including nation-building.
This year’s theme, “Different Contexts, Common Aspirations,” got me thinking about the Ghanaian youth and what the occasion should really mean to us.
Ironically, it was around the same time that I came across two publications that, in very different ways, had a lot to do with young Ghanaians.
The first was about a youth group advocating for the consideration of a third presidential term for President John Mahama. The second was about a coalition of unpaid nurses and midwives presenting fugu to the Minister of Health after receiving payment for 10 of the 11 months of salaries owed them.
At first glance, the two developments may appear unrelated. But when placed against the theme of World Youth Day, they raise some uncomfortable questions about the place of young people in Ghana’s development.
The contrast is striking.
On one hand, we have young people mobilising their energy and voices around a political cause. On the other, we have trained nurses and midwives—young professionals who have served in our health facilities—having to appeal to the authorities for salaries they have already earned.
It made me reflect on how young people are often treated in this country.
We are constantly told that we are the future and that we have a critical role to play in nation-building. Political parties celebrate our numbers and enthusiasm. We are encouraged to campaign, organise rallies, defend political positions and mobilise others, particularly during elections.
But beyond politics, how much of a stake do we really have in the country?
Are we being given the opportunities, resources and institutional support necessary to build the lives we have been told to aspire to?
There is a troubling contradiction here.
Young people are considered important enough to mobilise when political parties need them, but often not important enough to receive timely attention when they need jobs, decent pay, affordable housing, quality education, healthcare or opportunities to build sustainable livelihoods.
The unpaid nurses and midwives are a particularly painful example. These are not people sitting at home waiting for an opportunity.
They have acquired professional training, entered the workforce and provided an essential public service. Yet they were left waiting for months to receive what was due them.
And then there is the political dimension.
There is nothing inherently wrong with young people participating in politics or advocating for political causes. Political participation is an important part of democracy.
But it becomes worrying when the political system consistently finds ways to harness youthful energy for partisan objectives without giving young people an equally meaningful voice in shaping the policies and institutions that determine their future.
Perhaps we have become too comfortable with celebrating the youth without empowering them.
We tell young people they are the leaders of tomorrow, while tomorrow keeps moving further away.
We praise their resilience when they survive difficult economic circumstances, rather than asking why they should have to be so resilient in the first place.
We celebrate young entrepreneurs while many struggle to access affordable capital. We applaud young professionals while some struggle to secure stable employment or receive salaries on time. We encourage young people to participate in politics, but their influence often seems to end when the votes have been counted.
That is why this year’s theme resonates so strongly with me.
Different contexts. Common aspirations.
Whether it is the young political activist seeking to influence the direction of the country, the nurse waiting for a salary, the graduate searching for a job, the entrepreneur trying to keep a business alive or the young professional looking for a reason to remain in Ghana, the aspiration is fundamentally similar.
We want dignity.
We want opportunity, we want economic security.
We want to be heard and, perhaps most importantly, we want to have a meaningful stake in the country we are helping to build.
The uncomfortable truth is that Ghanaian youth may be contributing far more to national development than the systems around us are prepared to acknowledge.
So, as we celebrate World Youth Day, perhaps we should ask ourselves a more difficult question than simply whether young people are participating in nation-building.
Are we actually building a nation in which young people can thrive?
Because a country cannot meaningfully celebrate its youth while trained professionals remain unpaid for months. It cannot claim to be empowering young people if their greatest political value is reduced to the votes they command, the crowds they can mobilise or the political causes they can defend.
And it cannot continue telling an entire generation that they are the leaders of tomorrow while denying them a meaningful role in shaping today.
Perhaps that is the real lesson from this year’s theme.
Our contexts may be different. Our political affiliations may be different. Our professions and circumstances may be different.
But our aspirations are remarkably common.
And if Ghana is serious about its future, those aspirations must become more than speeches, slogans and annual celebrations.
They must become the basis of policy and governance.
Otherwise, we may continue celebrating Ghanaian youth while failing to build a Ghana that works for them.
