Every nation’s desire is to have their youth be charged towards community development. Their culmination in every aspect of life, that is the physical, social and psycho-spiritual, makes them pivotal in the development of a nation. And because of this, they happen to be the prime determiners of the state of communities. History reflects this as well for it was the youth, such as Napoleon Bonaparte, King Alexandre the Great, Queen Esther and Prophet Balaam, among others, that held big leadership positions. And now the present age as well has the youth conspicuous in everything that pertains life, including any innovation as well as technological advancement. The youth, such as Mark Zuckerberg, Usain Bolt and Lionel Messi, are at the helm of different advancements. It is, however, important to note that, while some are using their concerted youthful prowess for developing their own communities and the world, others are using it for mass destruction, compromising standard ethics, embracing lurid promiscuous international codes, manipulating the law, master-minding crime and ultimately destroying themselves unknowingly. Why their role matters Whereas some young people sit back and look on, or adversely trigger and champion turmoil and agony, fostering the waning development of their countries and communities, others in some countries and communities, having realised their potential have maximally done development wherein by policy making. Singapore, transformed itself from a third world country to a first world in the shortest time by the power of the youth. China, and many nations across the board have done it, and so, we, the youth in our own community can read from the same script because we also have what it takes—the numbers, resources, prowess and the influence ultimately. How fundamental are youth in policy making towards the development of our communities? Very fundamental indeed! Here’s how; the youth, regardless of the overwhelming odds influence a fundamental ingredient of policy making. These include the formidable faculties of technocracy and policy making which are; religion, family, education, media, arts and entertainment, business and lastly governments. However, it is also paradoxically beautiful to concede to the fact that the youth can champion in these areas of influence; yet have no influence towards policy making, because true influence is earned and not imposed. This is one of the strongest reasons why some policies and policy makers have met abhorrent resistance from the masses. Optimising our abilities, using God-given talents and abilities for the socio-economic betterment of oneself and the communities; believing in oneself for purposes of self-esteem and confidence, being passionate with what you do, being relentless, unique and striving to do better than the best, and above all, excelling extraordinarily in whatever you do, unarguably begets seasoned youth full of influence to effectively champion in policy-making. The youth should acknowledge their kingly placement on the mountains of influence, earn true inspiration and ultimately, with the spirit of truth, make fundamental policies for the love of their motherland. The writer is a public speaker, leadership coach and student at the African Leadership University. pkarekezi1@gmail.com Twitter: @pro_youngpeople
