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 Doobeez
rapper (Kenya)
"Let's not repeat the same mistakes our elders have done. Our beautiful world should not be allowed to disintegrate just because of a few selfish individuals."
 Ngwatilo
poet (Kenya)
"It's impractical to care about another's life the way we live these days. We're more comfortable the idea of hurt, the tools that inflict pain and the wonder of 'playing' with them, than we are with ourselves and the wonder of the different human beings around us. The structure isn't built for anything but failure, even when we "win." We have to desire better, we've got to access hope. We must permit ourselves to desire and hope for more, whatever roles we find ourselves occupying. Sure, it's more complicated than my couple sentences will admit; I know we don't live in idyllic neighborhoods, but at base:
1. we each belong here
2. we each have at least one mountain to move.
3. we each have to build the muscle required to move aforementioned mountain.
4. There is a curious satisfaction in heaving and shoving for good.
The crime? Let's all of us work on ourselves and see where that leaves the crime in our communities. I suspect there will be less of a support base for crime".
 Kawesa
artist, Idols Africa judge (Uganda)
"The value of anything is found in its usefulness. As young people (particularly in Africa), our elders always seem not to recognize (at least openly) any usefulness in what we say or think and thus destroying that tender sense of self worthy and value in us that is so important in preserving self-dignity. In the end the youth find ways of expression in the hope that they will be listened to which means of expression most times boarder on crime.
There is a local proverb in Uganda that says "negwozadde akukubila egoma nozzina" meaning, "even your own child playing the drum can get you to dance". Therefore my advice to both youth and elders is simple: let’s all respect each other as equal partners in holistic productivity and development!"
 Mwafrika
Ghetto Radio (Kenya)
"The reason why youth are getting more and more involved in crime is because of lack of opportunities. The older Kenyan generation keeps clinging on to jobs while the young people keep getting asked for experience before getting very low paying jobs. The net result of that is desperate youth ready to survive at any cost. The post election violence that hit Nairobi in January this year was being perpetrated by poor Ghetto youth who were getting paid as little as one U$ to cause havoc.
The militia group 'Mungiki' in Kenya is also made up of poor rural youth. These youth are known to hack people to death for less than quarter of a dollar. So as you can see, its all about poverty. Eradicate poverty and you will eradicate crime in Kenya and I guess any other African city."
 Lee Kasumba
YFM / African hip hop radio (South Africa)
"I feel the reason why the world is still fighting certain things like hiv aids, drug abuse and crime especially where young people are concerned is because discussions continue to happen ABOUT young people and not WITH them.
And that's dangerous especially in a continent like Africa where young people are the bulk of the population... Yes there have been efforts to get young people to have a voice on global platforms but what's a voice without authority or people not taking them seriously?
It's time we stopped being used as tokens and start being brought in as resources to help change and redirect the continent. In the same breath us as the youth need to stop having an 'us and them' mentality where politics are in question & remember that politics are what happends every day.
And the decision makers need to stop dealing with symptoms as opposed to the cause, crime with young people isn't because young people are trying to be disruptive, maybe it's because there are no tangent opportunities...
Just a thought, not as a politician or an expert but a young person that observes what happens on a daily... We have a beautiful continent with a beautiful spirit within, let's protect it..."
 Xuman
radio presenter / rapper (Pee Froiss, Senegal)
"Urban society is like a building with a fire on the 1st floor. Those living on the 10th floor have no idea. We live on the 1st floor, we know exactly what problems youth are facing. We just have to explain it to the 10th floor."
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