CYP Interviews founder of Young Leaders Inc

Abubakarr Messeh–Kamara, currently a student at the University of London is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Young Leaders (Sierra Leone) Inc. CYP’s Diane Mensah-Bonsu caught up with him at the recently held stakeholders meeting on youth mainstreaming to find out about his views on the causes of conflict and how young people can become agents of peace.

Diane: What are you currently doing in London?

Abubakarr: Currently studying Law at the University of London, and also involved in youth activism; promoting issues of young people in the UK through the British Youth Council; as well as engaging the Africa diaspora to support the Africa agenda.

In addition, I run an international Sierra Leone’s youth group known as the Young Leaders (Sierra Leone) Inc through which I initiate a collective contribution of ideas, skills, and talents towards the development of Sierra Leone, and to create a global network in which Sierra Leonean's young and old can provide successful solutions towards the development of Sierra Leone’s community.

Diane: What motivated you to attend the CYP stakeholders meeting? Were those expectations met?

Abubakarr: Born in Sierra Leone, at the young age of 10 years, I came face to face with civil war, human suffering, youth exploitation and death. My experience from the war is nothing good to talk about, and I do not wish for other young people to endure similar experiences. It is for this reason that I have always made myself available to participate in peace building and youth development matters.

I felt passionate about the problems and issues affecting young people. I am interested in young people’s participation in all issues concerning them. I was motivated to attend, because I consider myself as a Peace Ambassador and also a youth advocate. It is in this spirit of ambition; willingness and optimism that I decided to attend and share my experiences of peace building programmes and youth issues at the Commonwealth stakeholders meeting.

I have great trust in the work of the Commonwealth to promote young people’s agenda, and so I wanted to seize that opportunity to urge the Commonwealth to do more for young people. It was also the notion of participating in order to have the opportunity of meeting friends and associates who share the same interests, expanding my knowledge and also attaining helpful information in this shared cause for peace building and youth mainstreaming.

Frankly, I must confess that only 50 percent of my expectations were met, and 50 percent still remain unmet until when I see the outcome of the stakeholders meeting turned into productive actions by the Commonwealth Youth Ministers. I am keen to see that all the youth ministers of the Commonwealth take action now!

Diane: What do you believe are some of the causes of conflict?

Abubakarr: I believe causes of conflict reflect an extraordinary failure of leadership on the part of all those involved in government, public life and civil society. In most cases, the central cause of conflicts is endemic greed, corruption and nepotism that deprive the nation of its dignity and reduce most people to a state of poverty.

People feel bad when they see successive political elites plundering the nation’s assets, including its mineral riches, at the expense of the national good. Government accountability is non-existent. Institutions meant to uphold human rights, such as the courts and civil society, are thoroughly co-opted by those in power.

It is obvious that as the group that constitutes a majority of every nation’s population, children and youth are the most affected by political and economic issues affecting the country. Thus the last straw to most conflict outbreak is when the youth, feel marginalised and lose all sense of hope in the future. Youths become easy prey for unscrupulous forces who exploit their disenchantment to wreak vengeance against the ruling elite. Mostly young people resort to violence as a form of political expression.

However, some conflicts are caused for no valid reasons, as people just feel selfish or evil to create societal unrest. They do so either because they control the forces of suppression or just feel hearted in themselves for religious or cultural differences.

Diane: How can young people become agents of peace?

Abubakarr: Young people being a dynamic group with idealism are in a best position in creating an atmosphere that shall lay the foundation for peace building. Young people can become agents of peace, if they: receive the message of peace; are empowered and engaged; mobilised and organised and allowed to take the lead in nation building.

With this, the youth shall unite with society in finding solutions and alternatives and work towards peace building in their communities. Young people have to be educated with a peace culture; young people should socialize in order to influence adults; young people could be mediators so we would not be involved in actual fighting; we have to be change-agents, be people who can build peace process and teach others to work with peace.

Young people should be involved in peace building initiatives. Acknowledge that children and young people have valuable and concrete proposals such as; doing voluntary work in communities to promote peaceful co-existence and to serve as role models for adults as well as other children; produce and publish material on peace initiatives and convey messages to relevant parties; organise peace-marches and exhibitions to show the impact of war on children; and declare schools, playground and religious places as war-free zones and children as agents of peace.

Diane: If you were able to attend the Commonwealth Youth Ministers Meeting, what message would you convey to them?

Abubakarr: To change the way they think, and the way they act for young people and letting them understand that young people are not expenses but income to the Commonwealth. We are tired of all the violence; let us live in peace, for our generation and all future generations.

I will call upon all the Commonwealth Youth Ministers to engage the youth in nation building, as the future prosperity of our children and indeed future generations depend on how the Commonwealth take responsibility for its youth today.

I will encourage them to regard this meeting as an opportunity in a life time. They should never wait for the next meetings to come, but to use resolutions of this meeting to represent the hopes of young people as well as the yet unspoken hopes of future generations. They have a real opportunity to unlock the potential and talents of young people. They must seize this opportunity to save the many suffering young people; promote peace in young people; create jobs for young people; and making young people come first!

I urge the Commonwealth Youth Ministers to put the issue of youth and peace building and youth mainstreaming first on the agenda. Let the youth ministers´ acknowledge the fact that they have no other option but to involve young people.

Let them think of young people as not only future leaders but as leaders of today. Youth have to be identified and engaged in peace building. Indeed youth can be manipulated easily and misused. The youth should be provided with a special space for peace. We must plant the seed of peace in the minds of the youth, if we are to create a peaceful Commonwealth community.