Second Quadrennial National Council Meeting held in Accra Ghana

By Samuel Asamoah

The National Council of the Ghana YMCA has held its 2nd quadrennial meeting in Accra. The event which was held at the national headquarters was attended by a number of distinguished personalities, members of the association and delegates drawn from the five administrative regions in Ghana.

The theme for the 2nd quadrennial meeting was: Our Call to Serve: Youth Empowerment for Good #YE4Good”.

The event which is organized every four years is to deliberate on the way forward for the Association and also elect into office new leaders to serve in various capacities for the next four years.

Mr Kwame Gyimah Akwafo, the outgoing National President called on all members to rigorously champion the empowerment of the youth to secure their future. He observed that the task of youth empowerment could been seen as a simple   but it was a mission that required patience, life-long dedication, wisdom, and most importantly staying young at heart to understand young people and chart a good path for their empowerment and development”.

Mr Akwafo, said the YMCA had made good strides since its inception 128 years ago by always coming up with new ways of engaging the youth in a manner that was exciting and effective at the same time. But that notwithstanding, “we must also strive to be more relevant to the young people we serve. We need to constantly keep up with the times and must be dynamic in our approach towards current trends,” He gave the assurance that the YMCA would lend
all the support within its purview to any project that helps to empower young people and urged them to work together to propagate the message and secure a
better future for the youth.

The Outgoing President called on all members to initiative innovative measures to create safe and power spaces for the youth.

The Executive Director, Mr Kwabena Nketia Addae, also called on government to expedite actions to ensure that the TVET initiative is sustained in Ghana

In his passionate address to delegates, Rev. Father Cyril Otoo called on members of the Ghana YMCA to demonstrate real commitment, humility, love and passion in the service of God and mankind. He called on members to sacrifice their time, talent and treasure to serve the next generation. He charged the new leadership to work together and have clear vision to serve the association.

Central to this year’s 2nd quadrennial meeting was the amendment of YMCA’s Constitution. Mr. Charles Habiah, on behalf of the   Constitutional Amendment Committee presented to delegates and Council key areas amended in the Constitution. Among the key areas amended were the positions of the National Chairman and the National Vice Chairman. These positions have been amended to become National President and National Vice President respectively.  Unanimously approved by delegates, the Constitutional Amendment Committee’s report was adopted and received approval of  Council. As provisioned in the Constitution, delegates were tasked to elect members to steer the affairs of the Association in every four (4) years. As a result, an Electoral Committee was constituted to manage the electoral processes. Having satisfied the rules of the election and successfully gone through rigorous vetting procedure, Mr. Reynolds Kwadwo Kissiedu and Mr. Charles Habiah contested the positions of National President and National Vice President respectively. Additionally, Mr. Thomas Boansi Sarpong and Dr. Cyril Appiah Baah contested the National Treasurer´s Position. Overall, thirty (30) delegates casted their votes although thirty-two delegates were expected to vote. In a transparent voting process, all delegates exercised their franchise and the entire exercise ended peacefully.

Elected into office from 2018 until 2022 were:

National President- Mr Reynolds Kwadwo Kissiedu

National Vice President-Mr Charles Habiah

National Treasurer- Mr Thomas Boansi Sarpong

Members and delegates at the conference pledged their support for the new leadership and wish them well in their various responsibilities.