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Kenya to host the East African youth conference in Januaryby Vincent Obiro Orute The East African Youth Forum, a duly registered youth organization headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya to boost social and economic status of the youth within the East African Community will on 16th January 2005, host the East African Youth Conference on the evaluation of the treaty for the establishment of the East African Community. According to a letter issued to the East African Youth by Mr. Jared Joram Wangira who is the Executive Chairman of the East African Youth Forum, the objective of the one-day conference is to provide an appropriate framework to the youth within the East African Community to enable them develop social, economic, cultural, and political skills so as to enhance their participation into the development of the Region. Mr. Wangira said that although the youth constitute an integral part of East African Community, some did not know what the Treaty entails, with some asking whose community it is. He said answers to such basic questions were critical because they determine what approaches the East African Community was likely to take , hence the need of evaluating the treaty. The one day conference to be held in Nairobi, Kenya shall seek to promote the principle of equity in opportunities and distribution of programmes, services and resources. It shall also serve to promote equal access to socio-economic and employment opportunities commensurate to ability, potential and needs of the youth within the East African Community. AWe want all youth within the East African Community to unite, speak with one voice and be acknowledged as a political force@, said Wangira. He said that if East African governments had recognized right from the beginning the importance of including the youth and focussing on them in their development programmes, the poverty that is facing the region today would not have been of the magnitude we know. He added that the key gap in the development policies of African countries is their failure to see the youth as economic agents and a driving force. According to the secretary General of the East African Youth Forum Mr Bernard Otieno Nysanga, all deliberations and resolutions passed during the conference will be collected and a paper will be prepared and served to the East African Community secretariat based in Arusha.
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