Silence, passiveness blamed for underdevelopment

National Initiative for Civic Education (Nice) Trust has said the culture of silence and passive citizenship is robbing Malawians of their constitutional right to development.

Nice Mchinji district civic education officer Paul Kanyenda made the remarks at Mzingo Village in the area of Traditional Authority (T/A) Mavwere in the district.

His remarks followed the communities’ discontent over lack of development structures in the area.

One of the residents of the area, Nancy Pride of senior group village head Mzingo, cited lack of potable water, access roads and healthcare services in the area as some of the issues affecting their welfare.

She said women face serious challenges to access water and maternal health services due to unavailability of such facilities in the area.

“We rise up as early as 3am to fetch water from the well drilled during the one-party era [that ended in 1994]. This well is serving over 900 people. Healthcare services are not available in this area,” she complained.

But Kanyenda blamed the communities for their culture of silence and passive citizenship.

He also attributed the status quo on the communities’ tendency to leave everything in the hands of chiefs and local governance structures such as area development committees (ADCs) and village development committees (VDCs). n