Stop tagging Zongo youth, if you want to reform them – Prof. Kamil

By Yussif Ibrahim, GNA

Kumasi, March 23, GNA – A professor at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, is advocating for a more friendly approach in shaping the lives of youths in Zongos perceived as wayward.

Professor Naail Mohammed Kamil of the Department of Human Resource and Organizational Development said tagging such people as deviants and excluding them from community activities, would only push them further away and create more problems for society.

He said it was important to draw such youth closer, show them love and make them feel part of the society, instead of rendering them outcasts and insignificant to community development.

Speaking at the launch of a book titled, “Islam and Political Vigilantism in Ghana” in Kumasi, Prof. Kamil underlined the need to regularly engage the Zongo youth and make them appreciate why and how they could contribute to socio-economic development of the communities.

The book authored by Mubarick Alhassan Bin Osman, highlights the use of Zongo youth by politicians to perpetrate electoral violence and the position of Islam on such nefarious activities.

It seeks to sensitize the Zongo youth to stay away from self-seeking politicians and find something meaningful to do with their lives.

Prof. Kamil said the teeming Zongo youth was a human capital base of Zongos that could be developed as a catalyst to accelerate the development of Zongo communities.

This, he said, would effectively address the phenomenon of the idle youth being exploited by selfish politicians to achieve their parochial interests.

He called for a concerted effort from stakeholders to empower the youth through education and entrepreneurship to make them economically independent, saying that, poverty and ignorance were key factors fueling political vigilantism.

He applauded the author of the book for addressing one of the sensitive issues on the political landscape, adding that, the publication was timely as Ghana prepared to go to the polls in December, this year.

GNA

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