Thousands of youth activists on Saturday marched in solidarity with the global call for action/2015 campaign in Ghana. The campaign aims to mobilize 5 million youths to vigorously campaign and demand from Government fair funding of essential services, honoring of their commitments and to urge Government to tackle tax injustices ahead of a financial summit slated for this month in Addis Abba.

The activists were drawn from various Civil Society Organizations in Ghana including the Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP), The Purim African Youth Development Platform (PAYDP), the Abibiman Foundation, the community and Family Aid Foundation (CAFAF) and strongly led by Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC).

They marched through streets of Accra carrying placards with inscriptions such as “Fund fairly”, “Tackle tax injustices”, “Reduce Inequality”, “Finance our future”, “Keep your promises”, amongst others  from the Tetteh Quarshie Roundabout  to the courtyard of the airport where they converged, chanting, singing amidst drumming and dancing.

At the airport square, leaders of various groups took turn to address the youths on essence of the day in marking and also the role of youth activism in the fight towards justice to back the call for action/2015 campaign which is being marked globally across the world in 70 countries.

The walk also forms part of the action 2015 movement which comes off on eve of the Financial Development Conference, which is scheduled to take place from Monday to Thursday (13-16^th July, 2015) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where heads of state and finance ministers are being called upon to fund the next 15years of sustainable development and long-term action on climate change.

One of the leaders of the campaign, Bernard Anaba, a policy analyst with ISODEC, appealed to Government to show commitment and support for the nation to participate and make the right decisions during the finance summit.

He also cautioned leaders to be vigilant in monitoring the tax systems which a lot of malfeasance are registered across Africa, causing a colossal loss of 50 billion dollars every year.

“We know the global tax system does not favor development countries, as it is said, the African Union is pushing the agenda at this conference that they should help stop the 50 billion dollars that leaves African shores to the outside world every year, so if they restructure the global system, Africa will be able to retain about 50 million dollars every year that will go a long way to help our development,” he said.

Various activities including a street rally has been staged around the Tetteh Quarshie Roundabout including a flashmob at Osu and Obra Spot at Circle.

Action2015 is a growing citizens’ movement made up of almost 2000 organizations, networks and coalitions from 145 countries. It is with belief that 2015 is a critical year for progress in the fight against climate change, poverty and equality hence the need for action on part of youths to effect a radical change.