A Youth advocate wants the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to expound provisions in the 2011 Budget statement as it affects the implementation of the National Youth Policy. The youth policy was launched in August 2010 to serve as the vehicle for empowering the youth for national development and it is intended to provide guidelines and direction for all stakeholders involved in the implementation of policies, programmes and projects for the development of the youth. According to Seth Oteng, Executive Director of the Youth Bridge Foundation, an NGO, the 2011 budget as presented to parliament fell short of capturing priority areas in the youth policy. He told Luv FM in an interview that the budget statement only sought to give a broad allocation of resources for the various sector ministries, but not a breakdown of how the youth stand to benefit in priority areas such as education, ICT, science, research and technology. “It talks about skills acquisition and the rest but the youth have to go to the sector ministry and assess that ministry’s budget. It is from that point that you’ll be able to know what amount has been allocated for youth development. The budget statement itself is not clear or explicit on what is in it for youth development”, Mr. Oteng observed. He also noted that there has not been much improvement in making the budget easily accessible in order to empower the youth for participation in decision making processes. The youth advocate believes Ghana’s policy direction for the youth can be well appreciated if the full content of the budget document is made accessible to the public. Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh/Luv Fm/Kumasi