Malawi’s potential to develop can only be realised if the electorate begin to vote for leaders based on issues not personality, the Blantyre CCAP’s Synod Church and Society Programme has said.
The society’s project officer, Cydric Damala, made these remarks last week during awareness meetings in three villages in the areas of traditional authorities Njema, Mabuka and Juma in Mulanje.
Said Damala: “We keep complaining that we are not getting the right leadership in the country. But who votes for these leaders? It’s us, the people. Perhaps, our voting decisions have not been based on tangible issues.”
He dded that as the election draws close, they will bring together candidates in a constituency to face questions from the electorate in a debate.
“What we want to achieve is to have a conscious public that should make voting decisions based on their aspirations. We want to do away with leaders imposing candidates on the people. We believe empowering the voter, through challenging them to demand issue-based campaign from candidates, is key,” he said.
Speaking during an awareness meeting in his village, Group Village Head Robeni of Traditional Authority (T/A) Mabuka, hailed the synod for the initiative.
“There are a lot of things that we do not know which makes us makes uninformed decisions when voting. We did not know the real difference between an MP and a councillor.
“People’s understanding of electoral issues has changed. I guess those intending to compete for positions need to be very careful,” he said.
