Ekow Hayford, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Mfantseman in the Central Region, has challenged the youth to rise up to their civic responsibility and show interest and actively support the fight against bribery, corruption and other social vices.
“Your active participation in the direction is crucial to guiding good future, ensuring responsible citizenship to promote transparency, probity, accountability and ultimately bring about desired development.
“As youth, you must unite and collectively expose wrong doers in society, remember the future you wish to see starts from you playing your civic responsibility well and rising to be agents of change,” Mr Hayford stressed.
He was addressing youth of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community at the 38th annual rally of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association (Majlis Khudam-ul-Ahmadiyya) in the Mankessim zone.
The three-day annual rally, which was on the theme: ‘God Fearing, the remedy to Corruption’, aimed at working towards improving the spirituality, moral, social and physical development of members to increase their faith in Allah.
As part of this year’s rally, the members earlier undertook a blood donation exercise at the Saltpond Government Hospital and embarked on a cleanup exercise at the Mankessim market and some principal streets of the town.
According to Mr Hayford, the youth who were the future leaders and beacon of hope, must not reinforce the status quo of corrupt practices, while they prepared to take up leadership at various stages in future and indicated that “the need to build integrity among the youth by imbibing in them good morals and ethics to completely kick out the canker of corruption from society.
“I urge you to take advantage of the Free Senior High School (SHS) initiative to educate yourselves adequately,” he advised.
Murabi Ibrahim Arkoh, Mankessim Circuit Missionary of the Ahmadiyya Mission, admonished religious leaders to use their platforms to preach against corrupt practices, so as to make it unattractive for members to engage in.
He noted that given great reverence that religious leaders command in society, their best contribution to the nation would be to constantly preach against corruption for their members to serve with clean hearts, contribute their quota to shaping the character of their members, who occupied public offices to stay away from corruption. –GNA
