The Minister of Youth Affairs, Mohamed Orman Bangura and his team have concluded a regional consultation in Bo, Kenema, and Bombali districts on the proposed National Youth Policy 2020.
Addressing participants across the three regions, Mr Bangura encouraged them to be upright and steadfast in their endeavors.
In the years ahead, the Minister underlined, the youths of today will be in public institutions for which he urged them to resist corruption, safeguard the environment for the generations after them and increase their confidence in national and international governance.
Mr Bangura described 2020 as a remarkable year because, according to him, at the global level Sierra Leone has 10 years to actualize the 2030 Agenda while at the national level the country has 3 years to complete the Medium-Term National Development Plan.
He, however, stated that amidst this optimism, young people are challenged with confidence in public institutions, climate change and also faced with a legitimacy crisis of significant proportions in national and international governance structures.
The Youth Minister implored youths to know that they exist because of others. “know that your action or inaction has a direct correlation to the functionality of public institutions, the environment, and the national structure. We should not be in denial that our institutions and structures are bedeviled with improprieties, institutions of trust have been rendered nonfunctional because of corruption and nepotism. I pledge to change this narrative because we are racing against time”.
