Deputy Chair of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Victor Brobbey, has expressed worry about the apathetic posture of young people in the 2024 election process.

He observed the youth were either not interested or played along the campaigning with corrupt motives.

He was addressing a youth dialogue event for tertiary student leaders at the KNUST.

“It appears to be that the youth in Ghana seem to be uninterested and more cynical about the political process and about political governance in general,” he stated.

According to Mr. Brobbey, “there were some concerning trends that we felt we needed to address. One of those trends concerns the youth and their role they played in the election.

All these we felt required us to respond by doing programs such as the one we did today to build the capacity with youth and make them more aware of the way in which our governance system can be used more to their advantage,” he explained.

He noted the low voter turnout was partly due to more young people absenting themselves due to their lack of interest.

“The turnout was low throughout the election. I think the turnout was about 60% or so. But it was particularly bad amongst the youth in terms of the things that drive less than positive outcomes in the elections and those tend to be focused or done by the youth. So political activists use the youth to engage in violence and politically disruptive processes,” he said. 

The Deputy Chair of NCCE admonished the youth to get involved in governance and in choosing the right leaders for the country.

“If you do not participate in your governance, you are going to end up being governed by people that are your inferiors, nobody wants that,” he stated.

He urged the youth to actively participate in politics as the youth will ‘inherit democracy.’

“All we need you to do is to show an interest in the political activities of your country. Democracy is for you. As students and people who are going to inherit this democracy, we want your participation, your interest and your presence when we’re engaging,” he encouraged.