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The last of the six Plenary Sessions came to an end, with the Leadership and Government Session. The Summit then concluded with the Internal Breakouts and the Closing Ceremony. The 2015 Leadership and Government Plenary Session focused on corruption and the lack of transparency in so many governmental and corporate institutions.
Mike Davis, the Asia Director for Global Witness, introduced the Session with his keynote speech. He spoke about ‘conflict resources’ and the need for strong leadership in the world. This year’s Session is focusing on corruption at the highest levels of leadership and Mike Davis spoke about the multi-billion dollar Jade industry in Myanmar, which sits in the hands of ex-military leaders and government officials, also saying that 'in 70% of cases shell companies were the instruments of choice for corrupt politicians'.
The first Delegate Speaker speech was shared by Carlos Vargas and Mario Di Giovanni, both of whom work to increase democracy and transparency in the the increasingly corrupt Venezuela. They were introduced by one of three former or current Politicians in the Session, President Jorge 'Tuto' Quiroga, the Former President of Bolivia. Carlos works to increase civic participation and to ensure that their are electoral observers for the elections in Venezuela, while Mario work from the United States, trying to teach Venezuelan expats and immigrants about their right to vote. He personally made sure that thousands of these voices were heard during the last general elections. They also called for help from the One Young World community to observe at the next election, saying that 'voting is the strongest tool we have in holding governments to act with integrity'.
The next Speaker was Sasaenia Paul Oluwabunmi (Nigeria), who was introduced by a returning Mike Davis. Paul spoke about the widespread corruption tactics in Nigeria, he argued that an energy rich country like Nigeria should not have over 60% of its population living in poverty. He wants to get of rid corrupt and opaque political institutions in order to eradicate poverty, both in Nigeria and around the world.
Another South American Delegate Speaker, Bibi La Luz Gonzalez (Guatemala) gave a speech about the awful cases of poverty in her home nation. She was introduced by Hip Hop Artist and Social Entrepreneur, Akala. Bibi works to make sure that communities in deep poverty are not under or malnourished, she blames this on corruption and the lack of transparency all over Guatemala. She also said that Guatemalan 'governments stole so much from us, but they also stole our fear', corruption practices pushed the Guatemalan population to be more engaged because of their anger at the unfair treatment. Bibi has appeared on a number of international media platforms as part of her work of increasing civic participation and transparency in Guatemala.
Ivonne A-Baki, a Politician, Artist and UN Goodwill Ambassador, introduced the next delegate, Sabrina Vetter from Germany. Sabrina works particularly to increase transparency and reduce corruption at a corporate level. She advocates for the use of Collective Action in the face of fraud in corporations and businesses. Sabrina said that we need to fight corruption collectively, so that future generations don't believe it is the norm.
The Leadership and Government Session brought the Plenary Sessions to an end with another passionate and loud appeal from the Delegate Speakers. They called on the One Young World community to stand up in the face of corruption and dirty practices and eradicate poverty once and for all.
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