YFM, Ghana’s number one urban radio station, held a virtual event on September 15, 2024, to commemorate International Day of Democracy. The event, themed “Our Voice, Our Future: Celebrating Democracy,” aimed to amplify youth voices in democratic processes and highlight the importance of civic responsibility.
The virtual event featured a panel of notable guests, including Vera Abena Addo – Programs Officer at the Center for Democratic Development Ghana (CDD Ghana); Alswel Annan – Youth Activist of the New Patriotic Party (NPP); and Julius Kwame Anthony – Spokesperson on Youth Development for the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
The conversation saw speakers exhibit their love and commitment to national development and youth empowerment. The conversation saw both speakers and moderators alike enthused by the topic, sharing insights on youth development, growth and the essence of active youth participation in a democratic era.
Free speech, a vital part of democracy, has been abused by the youth who place no limit on free speech. Vera, Abena Addo, Programs Officer at the Center for Democratic Development Ghana (CDD Ghana), highlighted that just like freedom comes with responsibility, free speech also comes with its associated responsibility, which is to avoid misinformation and hate speech.
“Knowing that you can actually express yourself, say whatever is on your mind is important. We’ve also seen that there is a lot of misinformation and disinformation especially during elections. These are engineered by some people who cause a lot confusion and chaos and sometimes it’s just for them to win some political points against their opponents.
“Don’t be quick to share that information it could be leading to spreading misinformation. I know it’s difficult to draw the line but again, we also see where due to checking misinformation and disinformation government machinery usually would want to silence activists and people from speaking especially the media and censor,” she said.
She explained that while there is the need to guard free speech, there is also the need to combat misinformation and disinformation, a task that several civil society organizations are already engaged in.
Political expediency has become a predominant feature in our everyday politics in Ghana, a behavior which a New Patriotic Party (NPP) Youth Advocate, Alswell Annan believes must be a thing of the past. He urged the nation’s youth to prioritize putting Ghana first over political expediency, advising the next political generation to put an end to the nature of allegiance to party not nation.
“Our challenge is that we pay more attention to the parties than the country Ghana. Both the NPP and NDC have been in power and their participation and activities show that we hold allegiance to the party more than the nation,” he said as part of his opening remarks.
According to him, politicians have taken Ghanaians for granted because they are fully aware that when they do any wrong, members of their party will rise to their defense regardless of the wrong done, charging the youth to think of the development of Ghana.
Julius Kwame Anthony described Ghana’s current state of democracy as defective, likening it to a communist system that excludes many young people from decision-making processes.
The young politician stressed the defective nature of Ghana’s political space, which he termed as “a system that does not allow people to air their opinions” has excluded many young people in Ghana out of decision making processes on matters regarding their own welfare. “We do not run a proper democracy in Ghana, What we are running here is two communist groups that are fighting over who gets to run Ghana,” he stated.
The event, moderated by YFM presenters, Chelsey Sey, NYDJ, and Akosua Hanson, was an educative session which had participants fully engaged and asking for more.
Timothy Karikari, Director, Global Media Alliance Broadcasting Company (GMABC), shared his excitement over the success of the X Conversation. He indicated that the response and participation in the conversation goes to prove that the youth of Ghana are highly interested in building and participating in Ghana’s democratic process, and having their voices heard. To him, this conversation should prompt leaders and let them know that the youth demand accountability and have moved from political expediency to patriotism, putting the nation first.
YFM’s celebration of International Day of Democracy aimed to educate and engage young people, who represent the majority of Ghana’s population and electoral register, and to shape a brighter future for Ghana’s democracy.
