By: Nyima Sillah
Top members of Kombo East District Executive Youth Committee (KEDYC) have gathered at the weekend to preach peace and proffered developmental solutions for the youths of the district, held at Jiboro resting centre (bantaba).
The forum was aimed at helping the district youth better understand the opportunities available for them, and also to highlight the leadership role youth must adopt to ensure their development.
Aboulie Njie, chairperson for Kombo East Youth Committee, described the forum as very important for the district youth. Adding that, the subject matters of the conference such as peace building, youth in migration, youth employment and women in community development are all relevant for the youth folk.
“This youth talk show is very important because leadership and advocacy is something very important. We are facing leadership crisis in our country and we the young people are the future leaders. Therefore, it very important that we start everything from the grass roots level,” he said.
He said that creating enabling environment for the young people would help in eliminating the unfortunate situation in the society, adding: “KEDYC is committed to work with all registered youth organization in the district.”
“I called on all youth groups to register under KEDYC because we want to see our young people empowered and see them in a new direction”, he continued.
Ebrima Ceesay, secretary general for both KEDYC and Jiboro Youth Development Association (JYDA) also said: “Let’s try to learn from the resource persons, and implement the gained knowledge to make sure have the development we want”
Adding that, the forum will be helpful for the entire Kombo East youth, justifying it entails significant subject matter. He urged the participants to make best use of the conference.
Another speaker Dembo Kuyateh, Chairman for Kombo East Youth and Children Development Alliance (KEYCDA) added that, the forum will help youth leaders to learn from one another and develop best practices.
He said: “Statistic has shown that 98.5 percent of the population whose drugs were seized is young people between 18-35 years old” and therefore called on Kombo East youth leaders to engage their fellow youth to ensure they avoid using all forms of drugs. Noting that, drug abuse is detrimental to human health as well as could lead people for imprisonment.