PHOTOS: Burundi’s Amb Barege Rallies Youth to Harness Tech Boom for Africa’s Advancement

Burundi’s Ambassador to Kenya, Bosco Barege, has urged the youth to harness technology advancement to improve the quality of their lives and develop the continent.

Africa is projected to experience a population growth of 1.3 billion people by 2050.

An estimated 15 to 20 million increasingly well-educated young people are expected to join the African workforce every year for the next three decades.

Amb Barege said the arrival and penetration of new technology should be seen as extremely advantageous factors that will have a positive impact on the future of work and employment.

The envoy said the innovations including smartphones should be for the “service of mankind” and not used as “tools of destruction.”

Barege spoke this weekend at the International Annual Gala Dinner 2020 organized by Catholic University of Eastern Africa.

At least 30 Burundians are attending courses at the institution.

“UBUNTU (humanity) should be core of our values and culture as Africans. I am because you are. So, all we have as innovations do not make us forget this important value,” said Barege.

“The technology does not have to make us addicted to smartphones – where human warmth is deleted; where people are totally individualistic; where you can find 3 or 5 persons sitting together but none is talking to one another,” he added.

Africa Development Bank recently said Africa’s youth population is expected to double to over 830 million by 2050.

If properly harnessed, this increase in the working age population could support increased productivity and stronger, more inclusive economic growth across the continent.

Amb Barege and other officials at the ceremony

“The youth are the engine of development of our region and our continent at large because, you the youth, are leaders of today and tomorrow,” said Amb Barege.

The theme of the International Annual Gala Dinner was “When Culture meets Modernity.”

Barege said regional bodies such as East African Community (EAC) are harnessing technology for development.

He said the pillars of EAC such as Common Market, Monetary Union and ultimately Political Federation are facilitated by the technical advancement.

“The electronical tracking of goods from Mombasa Port or Dar Es Salaam Port is done thanks to the technological advancements.

Modernity should improve the quality of life for people,” he emphasised.