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African Union Youth Volunteers celebrate 10th anniversary
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The African Union Youth Volunteers Corps (AU-YVC) which is set to celebrate its 10 years anniversary this year, has urged more young people to apply for the programme.
The programme is a flagship of the African Union which recruits, trains and deploys young African professionals to serve as professional volunteers for a period of 12 months across the continent.
The AU-YVC programme will soon be looking to recruit the 11th Cohort. The vacancy announcement will be posted on the AUC careers portal: www.au.careers.org.
The programme continues to promote volunteerism to deepen the status of young people in Africa as key actors in Africa’s development targets and goals.
It enhances youth participation in policy development as well as brings to life relevant interventions towards achieving the Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC), H.E Moussa Faki Mahammat’s One Million by 2021 initiative.
The One Million by 2021 initiative seeks to provide African youth with concrete opportunities in the areas of Education, Employment, Entrepreneurship, and Engagement (the 4Es).
To date, approximately 11,000 young people have applied for the programme, 989 trained and 546 have been deployed to various AUC departments, organs and partner organisations across Africa.
The Department of Human Resources, Science and Technology has begun preparations for the commemoration of the AU-YVC 10 year anniversary through a digital campaign to showcase the decade long work the AU has done on youth mainstreaming and encourage youth to apply for the 2020 intake on the AU Youth Programme social media platforms.
The programme objectives are to establish a common understanding of the values and philosophy of the AU-YVC, build leadership and professional ability of AU Youth Volunteers and prepare them for their one-year service in another country.
Applicant needs to be a citizen of an AU member state living on the continent or in the diaspora.
The applicant needs to be aged between 18-35 years, and have a post-secondary certified qualification(s) (TVET, Bachelor’s, Master’s, etc.)
Applicant should be available in 2021/22 to dedicate 12 months to professional volunteer services and willing to live and work in another AU Member state.
Applicant should be proficient in at least one AU working language (Arabic, English, French and Portuguese) and have at least one-year verifiable volunteering experience and one-year professional work experience.
The Director of Legal Affairs of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Gary Nimako Marfo, has questioned who will bear the cost of conducting presidential and parliamentary primaries following the Supreme Court’s ruling on the party’s delegate system.
Speaking to journalists, Mr. Nimako Marfo said he would not immediately comment on the ruling, adding that he wanted to wait for the full details before sharing his views.
“I don’t want to comment on it now. Let’s wait,” he said.
When asked about the Supreme Court’s decision that all members in good standing should vote in party elections, he shifted attention to the financial implications of implementing the ruling.
According to him, allowing all members in good standing to vote would increase the cost of organising internal party elections.
He questioned who would pay for the expanded electoral process.
“Who is going to pay for the cost of the elections?” he asked.
When a journalist suggested that political parties would bear the cost, Mr. Nimako Marfo replied, “Let’s wait and see.”
The comments come after the Supreme Court ruled that political parties should allow all members in good standing to vote in their internal elections, a decision that is expected to expand participation but also increase the financial and logistical demands of organising presidential and parliamentary primaries.
By: Jacob Aggrey
The Supreme Court of Ghana has declared the delegate system used by political parties to elect presidential and parliamentary candidates unconstitutional.
In a 5-2 majority decision delivered, the Court ruled that the long-standing system violates democratic principles and ordered all political parties to ensure every registered, card-bearing member participates in presidential and parliamentary primaries.
The ruling brings to an end decades of internal party elections conducted by a limited number of delegates.
The suit was filed by former Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng; veteran politician Dr. Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe; and former Minister for Lands and Forestry, Dr. Christine Amoako-Nuamah.
The plaintiffs argued that the delegate system created inequality among party members by granting voting rights to a privileged minority while excluding ordinary members in good standing.
They told the Court that restricting voting rights to delegates was inconsistent with the democratic principles enshrined in the 1992 Constitution.
The Attorney-General’s Department supported the suit and urged the Court to adopt a “one member, one vote” approach.
In its submission, the State argued that political parties perform an important public function in Ghana’s democratic framework and that their internal electoral processes must reflect constitutional values of equality, participation and universal suffrage.
The Attorney-General further submitted that expanding voting rights to all registered members would strengthen accountability and deepen internal democracy within political parties.
The judgment means that going forward, presidential and parliamentary candidates will be selected by all registered members of a political party, instead of by delegates alone.
Political parties are expected to review their constitutions and structures to comply with the Court’s directive ahead of the 2028 general elections.
By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme
