By Sahr Ibrahim Komba
18 January, 2021 (SALONE TIMES)
FREETOWN – Anti-Corruption Commissioner Francis Ben Kaifala, called on youths to tighten their belts in the fight against corruption in Africa because the mechanism by which anti-corruption, access to justice, accountability, and public service delivery can and has been pursued, highly depends on the degree of the control of corruption.
He said this in a speech delivered at the International Youth Summit in the Unimark Auditorium, Makeni, on last Friday, 15 January
Sustainable development goals (SDGs) are a collection of 17 goals set by United Nations General Assembly which is also known as 2030 agenda. The goals are broad and interdependent, yet each has a separate list of targets to achieve, he said.
He further said that SDG 16 provides for the promotion of peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provides access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels to realizing the aspiration of young people across the world and Africa in particular.
“SDG 16.3 provides for the promotion of rule of law at the national and international levels and ensure equal access to justice for all. Justice for all would be impossible without the operation and respect for rule of law. In fact, the rule of law is mostly nonexistence in corrupt states. The lack of good governance and the absence for accountable promotes corruption and corrupt states will remain poor,” he added.
He went on to say that effective localizing or domesticating the SDGs would require serious effort to deal with corruption and at the same time harnessing the potentials of the youth population or else they cannot end African problems.
Kaifala advised young Africans to compete for high-tech, higher-paying jobs and take advantage of the increasing opportunities for innovation and entrepreneurship-digital skills training must be at the core of continued education and training.
That government must mainstream digital skills training in the local educational curricular so that product of African universities can have skills which makes them competitive and that the educational institutions must include entrepreneurship as a mandatory subject at all levels of education as more young people will be better equipped to create jobs and address issues of high unemployment.
Kaifala also said the fight against corruption should be an African priority as there is a new thinking and international recognition that an effective campaign against corruption at both local and international levels, reduce poverty, conflict, protect the environment, promote economic prosperity of political and social stability and guarantees the enjoyment and prosperity of youths and young people.
“Youths can never achieve all these lofty ideas if we fail to combat corruption.” Defeat of corruption is a condition precedent for successful nations. The urgence is now, and only now, not yesterday because yesterday had passed; not tomorrow, because tomorrow shall be too late,’’ he explained.
That youths should engage in serious advocacies for youths and young people to be included as stakeholders in national state governance and the implementation of anti-corruption strategies.
That the more the youths take the lead, the better the policies have the chance to succeed because youths are the biggest factor in all governance issues.
