VP inspires Mtendere Secondary School students

Vice-President Saulos Chilima on Saturday attended a graduation ceremony of Form Four students at Mtendere Secondary School in Dedza where he encouraged the outgoing students to be courageous and calculative when making decisions. 

Chilima, an alumnus of the school, said decision-making is an important aspect in life which determines success or failure for an individual or an institution.

“As secondary school graduates and young men, you need to make sound decisions about your own life. Bad decisions will make you fail in life while good ones will make you succeed,” he said.

The Veep encouraged the students to decide on what goals they want to achieve in life and work hard towards achieving them.

He also advised the students to be risk takers, saying it is his ability to take risks that made him become Vice-President.

“Take risks no matter how enormous the consequences are. Usually, when you have planned and decided on the kind of risk you want to take, the outcome is always positive,” Chilima said.

He recalled: “Last time I stood here to speak during a previous graduation, I was managing director at Airtel Malawi. I decided to take a big risk. I made a decision to quit the job and join politics.

“Most people got afraid and angry on my behalf. But, I was decided and had to take the risk.”

In his remarks, school head teacher Arthur Ganiza highlighted some of the challenges the institution is facing.

He cited shortage of teaching and learning materials and requested Chilima to mobilise his fellow ex-students to intervene on the issue.

Speaking on behalf of fellow students, outgoing head boy Emmanuel Namangale said they are happy to have gone through the school that produced the country’s Vice-President.

During the visit, Chilima donated football, basketball and volley ball kits and promised the school a minibus. n