The East African
Community is now at the peak of its success, integration is possible but the
youth of the community don’t think so at least, not yet, if any efforts were to
be made to realize its success then the young people must be able to think,
speak and participate in this wonderful course.
I wish to thank the
East African Community Management for their technical and financial support in
making the 1st East African youth Conference that took place from December
5th to 6th 2014 in Arusha success. My sincere gratitude also goes to the
Secretary General Amb. Dr Richard Sezibera for the wonderful opening of the
successful youth convention, his remarks were very educative, informative and
inspiring.
In our own small
capacities and positions representing youths from different countries and
communities, the Management of the East African Community made it possible for
us to attend and participate in the conference that discussed many issues
affecting the region. As youth Ambassadors and leaders this was an opportunity
for us, we have learnt, experienced and networked, it is now our responsibility
to share these knowledge and experiences with fellow youths and the entire
community. We are the agents of social change in our communities, only if we
show interest and commitment, can we attain social transformation as well as
economic-social development in the region. The role of youth in is very
significant, my prayer is that by the time you finish reading this article you will think exactly how I
think, that you and I need to
join hands in order to act upon these great ideas.
The discussions specifically
focused on the role of youth as social agents and social media as a forum to
influence change among other youths. Recently we have seen young people being
lured into evil activities; many have been arrested in the coast and other
parts of the country for having participated in taking lives of innocent
people. We can do something; otherwise they pose a danger to the security society.
The role of youth is therefore very significant; a healthy youth community is a
healthy society. If we the youth change how we spend our time on social media
then the region can be a better place. The Secretary General calls upon us the
youth of the East African community, to think, speak and participate.
Africa is the most
youthful continent, that would make us a better continent, but it can only be
worse if the biggest percentage of youths is unemployed, idle and waste 80% of
quality time on social media doing nothing innovative. We should participate by
having an interest in leading the integration to success. We can’t wait for
tomorrow but cease the moment and lead the integration, most of us are buffeted
by the wind. If we want to lead tomorrow, we can’t be in our calendars only to
make the region better if today fails but we can’t afford to make today fail if
we think a little harder.
Challenges
we should try to Address;
Facebook Agenda
We were given ideas of
how to use social media more effectively by the Secretary general Dr. Richard
Sezibera. Let us act now, join me
and make this agenda work for the betterment of our communities and make East
Africa a better place to be.
Making
solar energy economical
Solar energy is among
the cheapest source of energy and it is cost effective. By encouraging our communities to adopt this
idea, we are saving so much on what we spend on other sources of energy. It is
estimated at 70% of people living in rural East African communities use
kerosene as a source of energy and yet kerosene has adverse effects on human
life and environment. Use of solar can reduce the emissions of carbon dioxide.
Solar energy can be used at house hold level to industries. For instance our
economy needs more than 40,000 megawatts and we produce less than 10,000
megawatts. In Africa we are blessed with sun that we can tap and use it as
source of energy, if we think solar then we are thinking right. We can do a lot
with solar in terms of energy and stop depending entirely on the 40,000
megawatts we get from electricity. We need a solar energy future.
Providing
access to clean water
Although clean water is a basic need, it is
very unfortunate that almost 35% of people in the region don’t have access to
it. In the region, lack of access to
clean water has related problems like civil and border conflicts that have
claimed so many lives and lost property, poverty, diseases and lack of
education. We have witnessed that with the conflict between Kenya and Uganda
over the Migingo Island.
Many factors determine
the most sustainable means to clean water and therefore these factors must be
considered carefully. There are various ways to ensure communities have access
to clean water, however, cheaper sustainable means must be adopted. So how do
we harvest water/ store water? The three Rs; Reduce wastage of water, Re-use
water and Recycle water , this mechanism if adopted and effectively utilized can
be a strategy to ensure that everyone in the region has access to clean water.
Urban
Infrastructure
We have all witnessed
that most people are moving from rural to urban areas in search for jobs,
social services and to improve on their living standards. Well we have to
improve urban infrastructure like roads, redesigning in order to have better
urban living areas, get rid of waste material. Now that urbanization is inevitable, how do we
handle space in these urban areas in order to handle the growing number of migrants?
The East .African
Community integration is an opportunity for the people in the region because
one of its economic policy agenda is to improve infrastructure in the region.
Regional, economic policies need to be integrated in the national development programs
such that through those policies, issues on poor resource distribution, inaccessibility
to social- economic services, poor infrastructure and poor-urban planning can
be taken care of. Otherwise we are having so many people leaving the rural and
over populating the urban because they are looking for opportunities and
accessibility to resources.
There is a wide gap
between the rural and urban areas. In the rural there is a high level of
poverty, unemployment and unfair terms of trade. Regional policies should
create new forms of linkages for small towns and rural areas, such that
sectorial policies should be able to address poverty, unemployment and unequal
distribution of resources in both rural and small towns.
Health
challenges/ technologies.
Technology can enhance
our lives in many ways. It can make us more effective, productive and
efficient. It can also entertain us and can help us connect with others. Unfortunately,
when used excessively/misused, technology can negatively have an impact on our
lives. Some individuals are unable to effectively limit their use of
social electronic media and the majority of them are young people. The
excessive use of electronic media can be an attempt to cope with significant
physical, psychological problems such as depression, anxiety, or social skills
deficits. In those cases, for treatment to be successful, a significant
understanding of the interaction between psychological disorders and electronic
media is crucial.
Our responsibility is
to take lead in promoting, participating and protecting young people on the
internet and other online technologies. It all starts with you! Know your
rights and responsibilities on the internet and Promote safe use of technology
by avoiding risk factors. If we want to be responsible digital citizens then we
need to promote a safe and healthy use of communication technology.
Let’s participate in
the East African community now while we have a chance or else our children will
judge us harshly. When a negative thing happens to us, let’s not hold on to it
for it will destroy our dreams but we should use the negative to divert it in to
something positive because we know everything happens for reason. Let’s prove
the reason that the bad can actually be good.
We should sensitize and
engage the youth into healthy innovative activities and discourage them from
being idle for it leads them to engage into terrorist activities among others.
The people employing them know how desperate they are so they offer them money
in order for them to carry out these attacks and they forget they do this at
the expense of their lives. If we involve ourselves in governance, peace
building, conflict management and human rights, I believe we can reduce the
number of young people joining terror groups and abusing drugs.
Leadership begins when
we are not in position of the authority and we should always know the morals
behind our motivation. What motivates us to move forward could be the reason we
move forward or let ourselves down and we should understand that effective
governance is better than good governance.
FIVE
PRINCIPALS OF GOOD GOVERNANCE
Predictability
We need to understand
what tomorrow will look like. We are
driven by presumption and we live on chances. Maybe we should be able to see
and measure what tomorrow will hold for us and to know this we must see today
in order to predict tomorrow.
Transparency
We have forgotten the
powers we have as citizens, the power of the people. How is it possible that the people we have
entrusted with leadership steal from us? How many times as a youth have you sat
with your member of parliament and tried to understand how he works? How many
times have we put them to the challenge of being accountable for their wrong
actions? We shouldn’t elect and sit back and watch things go wrong! We should
confront these leaders into doing what is right by standing up for the truth.
Participation
We need to participate
in issues of our countries. How are we participating as individuals? Or as
platforms? The relationship between I and the person I elect should be beyond
elections I should meet the person I elected to know how they are doing with
the position I elected them to. We the youth can cure the disease East Africa
has. All the five member states have a sickness and working together we can
cure this sickness.
Accountability
We should not be used
by our leaders instead let’s work with them into making their leadership easy
and understood. Let’s not let ourselves be used negatively, we should be part
of the leadership instead.
Credibility
How credible are we to
be elected for the top job? We don’t have to be chained to be a slave. We can
be enslaved by many other things.
HOW
CAN GOVERNMENT CONTRIBUTE TO ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT FOR YOUNG PEOPLE?
·
Effective governance
·
Transparency
·
Accountability
Thinking is the most
painful thing that a human being can do. A normal human being doesn’t think
four times a week. We should train ourselves to engage in critical thinking. Everything
we are taught will always be a story as long as we are not thinking because the
only way to put what we are taught to practice is by thinking beyond what we
are taught.
In African everyone is
now talking democracy therefore we should embrace it but also we should be very
principled about it and not copy others because we see they are doing well
democratically.
Our governments should
allow room for the most common citizen to engage in government matters and our
leaders should not just be office leaders, they should come to us. Once they
become office leaders then it makes it hard for us to talk to them because we
all know the “do you have an appointment” when we go to their offices and we
most of the times get no appointment at all.
HEALTH
TALK
Understanding
development
Most children grow up
not knowing anything about development they know nothing about productive
issues. Parents don’t tell their children the truth on the questions they ask
as they grow up. They forget that as these children grow up they are seeing
things and they are learning through all the wrong channels. They watch on TV,
music videos and they ask so when they ask parents lie to them hence not
explaining further. Children/teenagers are very curious minds.
The seeds we plant in
young girl’s minds are the scar they will forever look at or the wound that
will take them to the grave. When you lie they get to know the truth. You are
not protecting them but harming them further. Lately I have been hearing people
including someone influential I know say “abortion is a necessary evil” I can’t
get room for such crazy ideas in my head but then not every youth will think
like me. This is already a very wrong way to advise a pregnant girl. Instead of
using such phrases why not spread abstinence in a way that we know our children
will listen? I know the youth we are very capable of doing this. I believe we
can handle it and wipe away the crazy idea of “necessary evil” (Wombs have
become tombs).
We the youth can
correct what our elders have done wrong but not encourage it and make it seem
ok. The idea you got in your head use it and it will propel your mind. We
should strengthen the protective factors not promote what’s not right for our
children.
SUBSTANCE
ABUSE
Many of our children,
who get into drug abuse, do this not knowing the consequences of indulging in
drugs. Avery good example is our very own Rehema Charamira aka Ray C who got
into addiction not knowing what she was doing. She thought she was taking in a
light substance yet she was actually using Heroin. Her then boyfriend
introduced her to this. She ended up selling her beautiful house in order to
buy heroin. She stopped going for concerts because of the addiction and she
felt nothing else was important apart from the substance she was using. Before Ray
C knew it she was a no body, that’s how East Africa saw a rising star go down
to zero in her career. Thanks to the president of the republic of Tanzania who
came in and helped Ray C. He took her through rehab and Ray C is now back and
she is now helping the youth with addiction. I salute this president for
helping out my once favorite star.
Ray C spoke to us on
how she got to her feet again after what befell her. She says her mother was
very supportive and she helped her even if it was very painful to her. She said
to her “Mwanangu sikukujaa hivi kwa hivyo najua utakua sawa”(My daughter when I brought you into this
world you were not like this so I know you will be ok) She also said that
people with addiction need their family love and understanding. Instead of
neglecting them, we should embrace them and help them get over it.
Addiction is like any
other challenge that can be taken care of, so we should not discriminate
abusers but support them so that they can change and become productive members
of the society.
As Young people we need
to join hands, work together and make our East Africa region a better place.
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