Peace sustainability rests with young people

The President and Executive Director of the Young Ambassador of Peace or YAP Momo Taylor,has said sustainability of peace in Liberia rests with young people, who are future leaders.

The YAP leader said statistics shows that about 60 percent of Liberia’s population is young people, who are direct custodians of the peace that citizens across the country are enjoying today.
Addressing reporters recently in Monrovia, Mr. Taylor pointed out that if Liberia must sustain the peace, inclusion of young people in decision making, and nation building must be taken into serious consideration.

“Our fight in this campaign is to create activities and program that will attract young people to stay away from issue surrounding violence and focus on youth empowerment, among other essential things”, he expressed.
According to him, one of the primary objectives of YAP is to get involved in issues that promote non-violence, noting that in the past the youth of Liberia had been blamed for violence, but this is no longer the case, as young people have walked away from acts that instigate violence.

“Our coming here is to inform the public about the upcoming national peace and reconciliation tournament that is expected to take place soon, we engage 35 percent of the 73 members of the House of Representatives to engage their various districts and to encourage youths in their various districts to form part of this youth tournament”, he added.

Mr. Taylor said the only way peace can be sustained in Liberia, young people, who are in majority,should come together and have peace activities to ensure that peace messagesare taken across all15 sub-divisions of Liberia.
“There is need that young people across this country get involved in activities that will promote peace instead of violence, against this; we thought it wise to invite young intellectuals from Pakistan and Kenya to share their experiences with our fellow youth on the importance of sustainability of peace.”

The YAP President said the pending election in October will be critical, because it is the first since 1944 where Liberians will witness free transfer of power from one administration to the other.
“This is an historic event that needs to be celebrated, because no one will be taken weapon or jump in the street to cause instability, but instead our weapon will be transcended into messages on issues relative to how best young people can be the fullbearers of the sustainability of the peace across Liberia”, he concluded.

By Lewis S. Teh-Editing by Jonathan Browne