MY ELECTION CHALLENGE TO THE YOUTH

(First published in the Nation newspaper of 23 January, 2019)

The 2019 tripartite elections are getting closer and closer by each passing day. On a preliminary note, I have observed that we have spent the last four years campaigning for these elections. Through no particular sophisticated method of research but mere casual observation, I have also observed that campaign and elections dominate our national development agenda at the expense of a development agenda. As this article argues, we must have a reversal of this order of things, and the youth must be the orchestrator.

Have you watched political rallies? Have you followed social media debates? Have you been to colleges and universities and observed the college wings for political parties? Have you seen the flags flying on electricity poles and street lights and high trees? There was a youth in the making. This albeit insignificantly sends my first point to base, the youth is an integral part of Malawian politics. Take him/her out, the hollow will surely be felt.

As pointed out in the preambular para’graph, this article seeks to discuss two things; firstly, that the youth must be in the forefront in the quest to reverse our election centred national development agenda. Secondly, that the youth must conduct a self-evaluative exercise of her individual self so as to be an orchestrator of a “development” centred development agenda. I will consider these two points separately in the superseding paragraphs.

In a democratic dispensation like ours, every person is endowed with equal rights under our legal framework. This includes among some the equal right to make political decisions, such as which party to belong to, which candidate to vote for and which political ideas to sympathise with. I therefore write on the assumption that based on these, the Malawian youth knows which path to take based on their political ideologies.

Robyn Elprehzleinn remarked that “Wisdom is knowing what path to take next and that Integrity is taking it”. Under this head therefore, my task is a humble one to my fellow youth. The youth must rise above petty politics of thinking that construction of roads, stadiums and symbolic bridges define development in its entirety. Real development is multifaceted and multi-dimensional. For example, of what real use is a tarmac road in a city to a villager on the borders of Mozambique if she doesn't have a hospital to go and a school to send her children?

The youth have to reflect on their role in politics

What our country follows is something I would call “politics of deprivation/ransom”. I will explain this before I delve into the next point.

Through the politics of deprivation, it seems apparent that politicians, past, present and future have an accord to keep the citizen and the nation deprived (of development). What follows then is that they use this to support their “election development agenda” by campaigning and preaching a message of development. This message is a circus (sic). The Malawian youth must be woke.

This brings us to the second point, what role has the youth towards a development agenda? As we draw closer to the tripartite elections, I challenge the youth to avoid being used as pawns in a game of chess. The youth must stop believing and being fed the nonsense that they are the future. Unless it gets proved otherwise that the future is now, the youth are the pillars of this development agenda.

The problem we face to have a meaningful impact on development and politics as the youth,  is the belief that youthfulness itself is a qualification for leadership and therefore the basis for supporting youth leadership. In addition to this, there is also a general belief that replacement of the old is a prerequisite for youth leadership. I find both of these to be grossly misleading and a general misunderstanding of the notion that the youth are the leaders of tomorrow. The youth must understand that it is very possible to lead alongside the old, for why should the old not lead when they are also citizens of this our beloved country? 

Lester Levinson remarked that “We can have peace if we let go of wanting to change the past and

wanting to control the future." Rather than getting fed stories about what happened in the past in our country, which I submit (as I would argue) will take us nowhere as a country, and trying to control the future when we are simply failing to manage the present, our country shall not know peace in terms of underdevelopment, economic emancipation, nepotism, tribalism, corruption and other vices that have laid a siege on our well-being. All this I put as a challenge to my fellow youth, we must live in the present because our country needs us in the present.