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This year’s Africa Youth Day Celebrations has been launched in Accra with a call on the media to desist from inflaming passion and inciting ethnocentrism as the country goes to polls in December.

The event which is celebrated annually was instituted by the Executive Council Division of the Africa Union Commission to promote increased awareness and recognition of young Africans as critical agents of transformation.

It also seeks to highlight the positives of the youth and their contributions in all facets of the African Society.

This year’s celebration slated for November 1, is on the theme: “A peaceful Ghana: Rhetoric, Realities, and the Youth Factor”.

Performing the launch, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mr. Sylvester Martin Tetteh said even though most of the media were working strenuously to promote and consolidate peace in the country, however, a few ones were bent on inflaming passion in the country.

“The National Youth Authority has taken note of the strenuous efforts by some commendable media organizations in promoting and consolidating peace, we, however, want to appeal to the few amongst you who are bent on inflaming passions of the populace notably the youth who are mostly the targets to be used as agents of violence and destruction”, he said.

Mr. Tetteh said it was important for the media to be vigilant in its care duties as gatekeepers and design programs, shape the discourses, and direct such to attain peaceful and non-violent outcomes.

“I urge you to boldly name and shame political leaders who may tend to rock the boat with their negative and divisive words and deeds,” he emphasized.

Touching on the day, he said this year’s Africa Youth Day would be marked with four key activities including; a youth peace dialogue session, development and signing of a youth peace charter, and a youth virtual concert.

He said these activities would be marked under the theme drawing on the upcoming 2020 elections and highlighting the indispensable roles of young people in ensuring a peaceful Ghana before, during, and after the elections.

“In choosing and promoting peaceful initiatives over conflict, the Authority recognizes the need for inclusion of our youth in building a fairer, more equitable and peaceful future for our country, Ghana,” he said.