Steven Nhyira Odarteifio declares bid for NDC National Youth Organiser

Steven Nhyira Odarteifio, Head of Food Systems at the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Ghana, has announced his intention to contest the position of National Youth Organiser of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC).

Mr Odarteifio made the declaration at a press conference in Accra on Monday, where he said his vision for the party’s Youth Wing went beyond organising supporters for political rallies and elections.

According to him, the NDC needs youth leadership capable of mobilising young people not only for political power, but also for economic empowerment and opportunities.

“I do not want a Youth Wing that only knows how to mobilise young people for elections. I want a Youth Wing that knows how to mobilise opportunity between elections,” he said.

Mr Odarteifio said the NDC Youth Wing must help translate the government’s programmes into tangible opportunities for young people, citing initiatives such as Adwumawura, the National Apprenticeship Programme and One Million Coders.

“Programmes alone do not change lives. People must know about them. People must be able to reach them. People must be organised around them,” he said.

He said if elected, his leadership would seek to connect young people to capital, skills, enterprise, agriculture, technology and markets, with the objective of economically impacting one million additional young people before the end of the John Dramani Mahama administration.

Mr Odarteifio said his decision to contest was informed by his experience in youth development, agriculture and enterprise, claiming that his interventions had helped create opportunities and improve livelihoods for more than 100,000 young people across the country.

He cited his involvement in agricultural economic enclaves, the deployment of agricultural equipment, support for local artisans to manufacture agricultural machinery, and initiatives aimed at improving opportunities for women processors and young farmers.

“When I speak about youth empowerment, I am not speaking from a textbook. When I speak about jobs and opportunity, I am not assuring you for the sake of it. I have seen the problems. I have built solutions. I have persisted,” he said.

Economic dignity

Mr Odarteifio said his campaign would focus on creating the conditions for young people to achieve economic dignity, arguing that political participation should not depend on financial strength or personal connections.

He said the NDC must create a political environment where young activists, branch organisers and leaders of the Tertiary Education Institutions Network (TEIN) could advance through their ideas, service, character and impact rather than their ability to spend money.

“So long as inequality and neglect persist, this culture of ‘something small for boys’ will persist,” he said.

“That is why I am contesting — to help support the President and this government’s mission to create the opportunities that give young people economic dignity, so the next TEIN leader, branch organiser or youth activist does not have to buy their way into being heard.”

He also challenged the party to choose leaders based on the depth of their ideas and ability to deliver rather than the depth of their pockets.

Cites Nkrumah, Rawlings and Yaa Asantewaa

Mr Odarteifio invoked historical figures including Yaa Asantewaa, Ghana’s first President Kwame Nkrumah and former President Jerry John Rawlings to underscore his argument that leadership should not be restricted to established or well-connected individuals.

He said their stories demonstrated that individuals without conventional political advantages could mobilise people, inspire change and ultimately lead.

“And so we stand at a crossroads where we must decide whether leadership will be determined by the depth of a person’s ideas or the depth of a person’s pockets,” he said.

He appealed to young NDC members who felt overlooked or disadvantaged to support his campaign, assuring them that their readiness to lead should be judged by their ideas, service, character, impact and ability to deliver.

“I want my unlikely presence to prove that a young person with a message, a track record, a little resource and a community of believers can still organise, rise and lead,” he said.

Mr Odarteifio formally declared: “With humility before God, with gratitude to those who have counselled and encouraged me, with respect for everyone who has served this great party before me, and with an unshakeable faith in the young people of Ghana — I, Steven Nhyira Odarteifio, hereby announce my candidature for the position of National Youth Organiser of the National Democratic Congress.”

He said his ultimate objective was to empower the NDC’s youth base economically, arguing that doing so would strengthen the party’s long-term electoral prospects.

“If we empower our youth, we will convince every Ghanaian to keep voting for us and secure 20 years of consecutive power for the NDC,” he said.

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