Pan African Civic Educators Network (Pacenet) says Malawi failed to register a significant social and economic transformation in the past 50 years largely because political leaders busied themselves with politics.
Pacenet executive director Steven Duwa made the observation in Chiradzulu on Thursday when he officially opened a two-day governance review workshop for community-based organisations (CBOs) and officials from Chiradzulu, Luchenza, Machinga and Thyolo districts.
Duwa challenged that it may be difficult for the country to realise its social and economic dreams if politicians continue to prioritise politics at the expense of development.
“It’s unfortunate that we’re celebrating 50 years of independence with nothing to show for it. This is because our political leaders prioritised politics at the expense of developing the nation,” he said.
Duwa said Pacenet is empowering local governance structures such as area development committees (ADCs), area executive committees (AECs) and transparency and accountability clubs (TACs), which are critical in mobilising citizens to take part in developmental activities at the grass roots level.
“The project, which is being funded by Tilitonse, intends to address low levels of citizen participation in the planning, implementation and monitoring of local development projects at community level,” he said.
