#Our Country Malawi The Responsibility Of Everyone Of Us Not Just Government
BY
MARISEN
MWALE
The message I have for us as Malawians as we
rollout 2020 albeit within the context that our electoral political impasse
ought to have been resolved in 2019, is that our country is everyone's
responsibility not just government. On my mind is and as backdrop the
controversial statement by the incumbent president that some human rights
institution (HRDC) is operating like a terror group. I endeavor to be a bit
non-partisan on matters of politics so I will not comment on that but that does
not preclude the fact that within a context of political tension as we are in,
a bit of taming the tongue and responsibility on all divides is vital. Now, I
got intrigued with one thought on my mind way back triggered by a session on
radio by the Nkhoma synod celebrated clergyman Rev Kachipapa on machinations of
the devil: that mostly the devil does not intrude a mind without knowing or
capitalizing on one's weak spots. Some democratic check and balance
institutions and even political parties I'm sorry to say seem to be operating
like wise .... specifically like the devil. Just to furnish an example, I for
one would surmise even for political parties that within a context of
exponential youth unemployment, which has obviously become the byword for
decampaining government and luring youth to the streets to demonstrate against
government, some institutions or parties ought to as a matter of necessity and
in the best interest of us all as a nation bring to the table potential
solutions. That's rather than capitalizing on the weak spot of youth
unemployment as a weapon for sabotage or gaining political mileage.
I would within my non-partisan orientation think of
conceptualizing solutions within what government is already bringing to the
table. On community colleges for example, the equity being accorded every
Malawian youth even from the remotest areas to empowerment like Kasama in
Chitipa, may be complemented with a bid to every well wishing Malawian to play
a role by contributing equipment and tools for the young people to showcase and
bankroll careers after graduation. Not that there are no well wishing Malawians
even in the Diaspora who could contribute to the manifestation of that
initiative in the guise of unity of purpose but that the messages we construct
and communicate from such government initiative like community colleges as
opposition parties and check and balance democratic institutions are rather
toxic and negative. We would rather champion the rhetoric of youth unemployment
and bank our hopes on utilizing that weak spot to demerit and discredit
government or incite youth to the streets on that pretext than preach potential
solutions to end youth unemployment. I for one would think ending youth
unemployment is every well wishing Malawian's responsibility and obligation
especially when I fathom that what youth mostly need is empowerment. We could
for our graduates empower them with requisite resources and infrastructure to
roll out their own organizations or careers and even further develop ideas they
bring from University to fruition rather than capitalizing on the weak spot of
unemployment and that is not only the responsibility of government. We could alternatively
foster entrepreneurship among our graduate youth. For the non-graduate youth
within the context of government initiative like the community colleges or even
fertilizer subsidy, a lot could be done not only by government but every well
wishing Malawian including non-governmental organizations.
Several organizations complementing government
effort in that vein cannot go without mention: World vision, Plan Malawi,
Oxfam, UNDP, USAID, JICA, DFID, GIZ, CIDA, NORAD, Cadecom etc need to be
complimented. Even some ordinary Malawians are playing and could play their
part........... if a majority of us could create one or two jobs: buy a welding
machines or two and hire youth for instance , buy a vehicle or two, or a lorry
or two for those who can afford and hire youth, the question is how many
non-graduate youth would we take from the streets and list of the unemployed.
Fact is we need to model and nurture a better Malawi as a unified group of
people and with consented effort and not be bent to sabotage government effort
by always witch wishing or hunting for weak spots that we may as well help
mitigate. Let's not always play the devil in Rev Kachipapa's renditions. There
is a lot everyone of us can do to complement government effort and after all
Malawi belongs to everyone of us!
BY MARISEN ‘MAESTRO’ MWALE
