Searching for peaceful youths

A journalist once asked Thomas Jefferson, US’s third president: “Why are you reluctant to run for a political office?”

His response was simple: “You do not come out of politics with the same virtues and respect that brought you into it.”

But Dr Justin Malewezi, Malawi’s first vice-president, managed to defy Jefferson’s wisdom. He is, perhaps, Malawi’s rare political gem, a candle flickering in the storm that continue to darken Malawi’s politics.

That is why, when such a man speaks, it pays to listen. And last week, during International Day of Peace at Blantyre Youth Centre (BYC), Malewezi spoke.

“The youth are key development partners and we must realise that if they demand peace, we can’t deny them due to their numerical advantage. And I urge you, the youth, to demand it [peace],” he spoke.

History provides the best answers as to why Malewezi’s words were spoken with honesty and wisdom.

Since the return of multiparty democracy in 1993, the role of the youth in politics has always been narrowed to being agents of violence. Notwithstanding their physical and numerical advantage, youths, as Anthony Kasunda, chairperson of Misa Malawi, noted during a public debate last Friday on the theme ‘who should the youth answer to in the 2014 Tripartite Elections?’, have barely listened to themselves before making critical political decisions. He said “youths have always listened to elderly politicians who have their political egos to sustain and protect”.

Gift Numeri, a youth activist, notes that most youths in the country will remain poor if they continue to be a medium of violence for political parties.

“As youths, we need to define what we want. If we do that, we will be able to listen to it and defy every voice to the contrary,” he says.

Taking right steps

This, of course, is easier said than done. But with 2014 polls drawing close, youths in the country have started to make critical steps towards turning from what used to be their traditional political space.

“We need to be burdened with what we have become. We should be angry and upset with our situation. Enough is enough. We need a youth-led revolution in this country,” charged one youth during the public debate last week.

The first step towards change is when people start meeting and talking. And the youth have started that process.

In fact, apart from proposing to revolutionarise this country, the youth came up with a number of measures to reject being used as a medium of violence in their respective parties.

“We should create a toll free number where we should be reporting names of such politicians to the media,” said one Kelvin Banda, a Mzuzu-based youth at the debate.

A day later, during the commemoration of the International Day of Peace, the youth signed a Peace Pledge—a commitment to uphold peace as the country counts down to the 2014 Tripartite Elections.

These moves are sensible. The challenge, however, is that they are made mostly by conscious and rational youths, not necessarily the ‘irrational’ ones that are conscripted by politicians.

This is why Malewezi took the message to the leaders.

“Leaders ought to know that we can’t build our country on hate and violence and that political rallies should be political debates on how to improve people’s livelihoods. Electoral violence is one of the greatest threats to democracy, and elections, though competitive, don’t have to be violent,” he said.

Youths role

Of course, although the youth have already started the journey, political leaders, as Malewezi advances, have a critical role in supplementing the dream of youth-led political violence.

In separate interviews, spokespersons for Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), People’s Party (PP) and United Democratic Front (UDF) share the view that it is high time the youth were used for constructive purposes.

UDF’s Ken Ndanga says his party has learnt from history and with their leader, Atupele Muluzi, pushing an agenda for change, it is almost without expression that Malawi should expect nothing but peace from the party.

“One of the ways we have put in place is to make sure that, as UDF, we champion issue-based politics. Much of the violence we have witnessed in the past stems from politics of castigation. These elders get angry when castigated that is why they turn to violence,” he says.

He adds UDF has come up with strong disciplinary measures against anyone proven to be engineering violence in the party.

Speaking recently at a rally in Njamba Freedom Park, Blantyre, MCP president Lazarus Chakwera, while gazing at youths carrying placards and glorifying his name, said: “All MCP members, including the Youth Morale, need to be productive. They should not throw away their dignity by bad-mouthing each other or dancing bare-breasted in party colours.”

DPP’s Nicholas Dausi says his party’s president, Peter Mutharika, has been having numerous meetings with the youth on the need to have peace in the party and in the country.

“He has not just been calling the youth to peaceful and warning them to face immediate expulsion if found. He has also been talking to senior party members whom, we know, are using their money to manipulate the youth to orchestrate violence. We will not let anybody tarnish the image of our party,” he says.

Curbing violence

PP’s Hophmally Makande argues that despite going through various provocations in the few years they have been in power, the party has never resorted to violence.

“I promise Malawians, today, they should not, even an inch, expect PP youths to turn violent,” he says.

All of the political parties argue that they have a tacit affirmative action aimed at empowering the youth through encouraging them to run for political office.

However, despite such flowery arguments from politicians, Catholic University associate professor of governance Nandine Patel argues that there is a need to ask some fundamental and critical questions.

“What can really stop the use or abuse of the youth? Are political parties and their youth members and youth outside political parties asking questions as to how the contending parties are going to address critical issues such as improving the infrastructure to widen the base of the economy which, in turn, would widen employment opportunities?” she asks.

She adds: “Malawi ranks second in youth unemployment in the world and the youth population is growing fast. This is indeed worrying as it is a potential source of social conflict. Are political parties taking serious note of this and are they able to show some projections as to how many jobs are going to be created if voted into power in the next five years?”

She recommends that in the run-up to 2014 elections, the call for issue-based politics and the demand for party manifestoes to be launched in time, are some of the opportunities for the youth to make their input in setting the agenda for sustainable growth through inclusive.