The Pan Africanist Watchman

Africa’s youth is well placed to anchor the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AcFTA), SADC Parliamentary Forum Secretary General, Boemo Sekgoma told the 5^th SADC Youth Parliament forum this week in Gaborone.

And this “unique opportunity” for Africa to lift millions of people out of poverty is possible only if the youth is empowered to change the continent’s business environment, Sekgoma, who doubles as Patron of the SADC Youth Parliament, said.

She added that the forum was timely since it aligns with the focus of the African Union (AU) and all its Organs, which is to accelerate the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area.

The envisaged single continental market is expected to increase intra-Africa trade by 52, 3 percent and the World Bank estimates that the AcFTA will increase Africa’s income by $450 billion by 2025 and increase intra-African exports by more than 81 percent.

“We must start by deliberately including youth in policy and decisions making platforms, integrating their needs into trade policies, enhancing their participation in cross-border trade by addressing the excessively high trade costs and stiff tariff barriers in many countries that limit the potential of youth in the business sector and ultimately stifling economic growth and the continent’s development”, she said.

This AU’s mission, she said, presents an opportunity for the continent to refocus on youth empowerment initiatives. Africa’s has the world’s young population with over 400 million young people aged 15 to 35 years.

To galvanise Africa’s accelerated economic growth agenda, Sekgoma intimated that the youth must be a prime anchor of the AcFTA. “In that regard we must include the youth in all areas of the AcFTA implementation – our operating mantra as it relates to the youth must always be ‘Nothing for us, without us’”, she said!

Sekgoma was pleased that the SADC Parliamentary Forum and its partners can and should play an instrumental role in driving youth inclusion and participation in continental policies and programmes in general and in the implementation of the AcfTA in particular.

She said that the Members of the SADCPF, whom the youth have elected to represent them at national level, by virtue of their membership in national parliaments of member states must foster youth inclusion as a catalyst for economic growth and poverty reduction.

She said that the SADCPF and MPs can develop stronger frameworks for enhancing the implementation and impact of the AcFTA by identifying mechanisms to ensure that the developmental principles envisaged in the development blueprint are “youth-centred, inclusive and inculcated in their respective National Development Plans”.

“I am pleased that SADC Parliamentary Forum and its partners can and should play an instrumental role in driving youth inclusion and participation in continental policies and programmes in general and in the implementation of the AcfTA in particular”.