Tiyumba Suweiba Yakubu || Editor Sanatu Zambang
The Youth Empowerment for Life (YEFL) Ghana, a non-profit leadership empowerment
organization in the Northern region in collaboration with the Northern Regional Youth
Parliament (NRYP) has organized a youth parliament forum for the eight parliamentary candidates
in the Northern region.
The forum, which was held at the Pioneer Lodge in Tamale on Saturday was scheduled to be
attended by the four Members of Parliament (MP) and the four parliamentary candidates from
both the NPP and the NDC in the Tamale North, Tamale South, Tamale Central and Sagnarigu
constituencies.
It was organized under YEFL Ghana’s ‘Youth Resilience for Peace’ project and was on the
theme, “Bringing parliamentary candidates together for peace, youth development and climate
action in Northern region”.
Speaking at the forum, the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Tamale North constituency,
Alhaji Alhassan Suhuyini, who turned out to be the only parliamentary candidate who showed up
at the forum out of the eight advised the youth in Tamale to eschew election violence in the
upcoming December 2024 elections.
The MP advised the youth to take part in the electioneering process come December 7th 2024,
by coming out in their numbers to vote for the right candidate who will govern the country in the
interest of the people.
Hon Alhassan Suhuyini
“A lot of us think just queuing and voting for our favorite party in the elections is what our duty
is! However, our duty is to vote for who is capable and will be able to meet our needs and
demands,”
He urged the youth to resist any attempt by politicians that would lure them into committing
violence during the elections, adding that their resistance to political influence to commit
violence would be a way of telling politicians that the youth in Tamale are beyond violence.
“If any politician approaches you for some illegal activities, tell them to engage their children
Hon Alhassan Suhuyini
and family members. The only thing we should be concerned about is to look at the things that
are not right in the country and take a stance on how to improve it,”.
Alhaji Suhuyini urged the youth to vote for the National Democratic Party (NDC) presidential
candidate, Mr. John Dramani Mahama, since he is the best candidate and the one capable of
taking Ghana out of the mess it is facing right now.
The Speaker of the Northern regional youth parliament, Alhassan Musa Timtooni during a press
briefing at the sideline of the forum registered their displeasure about the refusal of the other
seven parliamentary candidates to show up for the forum without any tangible reason.
He commended the Tamale North MP for honoring their invitation and cited the actions of the
other seven MPs as disrespectful to the youth in the Northern region.
“We the youth have learned our lessons and we will not allow ourselves to be manipulated and
Hon Alhassan Suhuyini
used in the upcoming elections. We will use our voting power to register our displeasure come
December 2024,”
Some of the institutions present at the forum included Activista Ghana, representatives from the
PWDs, CSOs, and students.
