This year, the National Cadet Corps, made up of student cadets, put up a spectacular march past performance at the Black Star Square to commemorate Ghana’s 62nd Republic Day. Ten thousand (10,000) student cadets and one thousand (1000) bands men drawn from all the sixteen(16) Regions in the country,under the command of a youth female parade commander , SUO Jessica Botchway, took turns to march in regimented order which ended in a formation that illustrated the phrase;
“As Youth, We Will Do Better Through Volunteerism”.
The contingents, made up of student cadets from Basic, Junior and Senior High Schools respectively, represented their various arms of services (Army, Navy, Airforce, Police, Fire, CEPS of the GRA and Immigration) at the parade ground. There was also a performance by a Taekwondo club from the Aburi Girls Senior High School. Accompanying this great performance by cadets on parade was a wonderful rendition of music by the National Cadet Corps Central Band.
The ocassion which was under the theme, “WORKING TOGETHER AS YOUTH THROUGH VOLUNTEERISM, BOUNCING BACK TOGETHER”, was not only used to mark 62 years of Ghana attaining a Republican status after independence on July 1st 1960, but also to exhibit the willingness of youths to use volunteerism as a tool for National development.
The parade was reviewed by the Deputy Chief of Staff, Mr. Emmanuel Adumua-Bossman and the National Cadet Coordinator General, Nicholas Nii Tettey- Amarteifio. Mr. Adumua- Bossman in his address mentioned that, the county’s population constitutes 60% percent youths and any investment made in them now would be a positive outcome for the future and the society at large.
He said if we all, including corporate Ghana, could invest in the youth in various meaningful ways such as through music, camping, and other educational activities, to keep them eager and enthused, then no individual, groups of persons or terrorist entities could influence them negatively. He went on to commend the participants for their selfless nature in partaking in the march past to commemorate the Republic Day.
The National Cadet Coordinator General, Nicholas Nii-Tettey Amarteifio, in his speech explained that the essence of the parade was to emphasize the willingness of the youth to volunteer and contribute to National Development. He therefore called on the government to support the fraction of youth who were ready to volunteer for the country in different capacities. He further went on to call on the security agencies to help the youth achieve their volunteerism goal by prioritizing members of the Cadet Corps during recruitment of service personnel.
Gracing the occasion were some senior Officials of various Security Agencies in the country, Religious groups and Traditional authorities, Members of Diplomatic corps and leaders of youth led groups, among other high profiled personalities. Special awards were presented to individuals and schools for their excellent performance in both the march past and a brass band competition which took place on Wednesday, 29th June 2022, prior to this event.
BY: PATIENCE NAA ODE BENJAMIN
