Representatives of five political parties in Ghana thrilled students of the University of Cape Coast on their parties’ vision and policies for the nation on five thematic areas over the weekend.

The five thematic areas of debate include poverty reduction and economic development, the right to education and skills training, energy and natural resource management, the justice system and the rule of law in Ghana as well as women empowerment and affirmative action.

The audience quizzed the debaters on pressing and critical national issues that would influence their votes in the November polls.

Answering the questions put to them by BBC’s Sammy Darko and the students of the University of Cape Coast,  the participants were in agreement  that many of the country’s youth were wasting away because of unemployment and  indicated what the policies of their political parties were to address such challenges.

The five were speaking at the second edition of the ‘youth debate series’ which was organized by the African Height Foundation with support from Open Society initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) and the Law Students Union of the University of Cape Coast (UCC).

The youth and women political parties' debate series, funded by OSIWA is organised by African Heights Foundation in collaboration with the Debate Societies of some selected public universities. OSIWA plays a dual role in the region as both an advocate and grant-maker.

The National Democratic Congress’ Godwin Tamakloe intimated how the incumbent government had created jobs for the people of Ghana, and will create more given another term in office.

He argued, “The government has done a lot of work to provide employment for the youth in Ghana. There have been numerous interventions and the deliberate creation decent jobs for the people. This has been  engineered  through different sectors so that for instance if a government indicates that I am building two hundred community day secondary schools and it takes over twelve months to build one, remember that you need people to do that. You definitely need an architect, you need a quantity surveyor, you need all of these, that is how you create decent jobs. Beyond that, the national youth employment has employed over one hundred thousand people”

Jason Tutu of the CPP’s students Command, Youth League, was emphatic his party, the CPP would make Ghanaians feel the impact of a buoyant economy through vibrant policies. He mocked government’s construction of 200 senior high schools.” If you promise me 200 Schools and your term is almost over and you’ve completed almost three of them, that process is very slow. These kinds of games should stop. This ‘tortoise’ method of doing things in this country should stop now, “he stressed.

The Head of programmes and events for the youth wing of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Boakye, presented how theNPP would create jobs when voted into power.

“The story and the narrative from you students, from farmers, from Esi I bought kenkey from;   and my Abossey Okai people. The economic situation is dire. The government has no clue.  This year’s election is about the party that can protect your future and provide you jobs after school,” he intimated.

Jason Tutu, the head of Students Command of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), Youth League, said a CPP government will make Ghana a productive economy.

The Central Regional Communications Director of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP), Sunday Agyekum Atara dazzled the audience by recounting the exploit of the PPP and demonstrated why the country should ‘snub’ the NPP and the NDC  by changing the voting pattern that almost always settles on either the NPP or the NDC. He showed the trump card of the NPP which he says revolves around industrialization and job creation.

“So we have said industrialization is vital. We have a country where garbage is giving us cholera and other diseases. Go to China and Japan; those things give them electricity and bio-gas. We believe the will power of Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom can change Ghana for us.”

PNC’s Abu Ramadan, asked the audience to see the need for change as a clarion call. According to him, the youth would be better off if the PNC is given the mandate.

“Dr. Edward Mahama is saying that the main area that would develop Ghana is agriculture which employs sixty percent of the workforce of this country. That is why he says the PNC would set up a Ghana Crop Authority in order to bring up the other smaller crops to the level of cocoa.”

The Political Parties’ Youth Debate Series is designed to empower to vote on issues in the run-up to the November 2016 elections.

This activity is meant to decentralize the concept of the presidential debates and provide a civil platform for political engagement for young and female politicians.

The African Heights Foundation is a not-for-profit organization, based in Accra aims at strengthening democratic values and increasing citizens’ participation in decision making processes and thereby contributing to improved policies and practices that affects people’s lives.