• Africa continues to have political leaders who can be considered as aged
• The youth have been asked to take over the reins of power
• Irbard Ibrahim believes both the older generation and the new one should rather be working hand in hand
A security consultant and social commentator, Irbard Ibrahim, believes that neither the calls for the aged political leaders to be retired, or for the youth to take over the reins of power should be mutually exclusive.
He explained that for both sides of the coin, each one can work together with the other to promote development in the sub-region.
Irbard Ibrahim was speaking on The Lowdown on GhanaWeb TV when he made these comments.
He explained further that with experiences showing that not even the youth have done better in positions of power, there is the need for both sides to work together.
“I hear a lot of clarion calls on the part of the youth. Even in Ghana, we have the #FixTheCountry, in Nigeria, we saw #EndSARS and what the youth wanted to do; they wanted to push the [envelope] further that beyond the dissolution of the Special Armed Robbery Response Squad, they wanted something else.
“But I always want us to tread on the side of caution because when the youth in the sub-region have been given the opportunity to assume positions of trust, there have been some cases where they have been more corrupt than these aged, dying leaders we’re saying they should leave the scene. Look at our universities; whether NUGS or SRC, look at the allegations of corruption. So, if somebody in the middle or late 20s cannot be trusted with the dues of students, how can we trust you with billions of dollars of our GDP as a West African country?
“And so, I don’t think it’s an either-or situation: the youth and the aged can be mutually inclusive. We can tap into the wisdom of the aged and the exuberance of the young to build West Africa and the rest of Africa,” he said.
The Lowdown shows every Monday on GhanaWeb TV on YouTube.
Source: www.ghanaweb.com
