Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP) Synod of Livingstonia has asked politicians who will be elected leaders in the September 16 2025 General Election to adopt principles of servant leadership.
The synod’s general secretary the Reverend William Tembo made the remarks yesterday on the sidelines of the150th anniversary celebrations at Mzuzu Stadium.
With the elections less than 30 days away, he implored them to put the interests of the people first instead of focusing on self-enrichment.
Tembo said: “When we vote for you [politicians], we want you to serve poor people in the communities. Many of the politicians benefit themselves and many of the members of Parliament are doing nothing. They disappear once we vote for them.
“We will give the politicians another chance on September 16, but they should ensure they do the right thing for the voters. We do not want politicians who join politics because they have no money and abuse the Constituency Development Fund.”
On contributions towards the country’s social economic development, Tembo explained that the synod has made meaningful contribution through the construction of 800 primary schools, nine secondary schools and the University of Livingstonia.
“We have hospitals. We have gone into agriculture. We have about 21 departments working in our communities. The 150 years were planted by the missionaries. We want to look into another 150 years where the youth have a great role to play,” he said.
Church of Scotland national convener Christina Paterson, who represented the moderator, said they have maintained strong ties with the CCAP Church, adding that they recognise the impact of climate on Malawi.
“We see how climate change affects us in the United Kingdom, but we had no idea how it affected Malawians until we came to visit. That has been a steep learning curve for us.
“We want the people to embrace climate change and sustained agriculture. We have made partnerships, including tree planting in Mzimba, Mzuzu, Dwangwa and Bandawe.
Convener of global partnerships for the council of global mission of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland David Mccullagh said their investment in health and education goes back to 1958.
He said: “We have continued to support the health department and we currently do that at synod level as well as the hospitals at Ekwendeni and the David Gordon Memorial Hospital at Livingstonia.
“We support the theological faculty at Ekwendeni and we have provided theological lectures there to help ministry students learn what it means to be a minister within the CCAP and particularly in the Synod of Livingstonia.”
According to Tembo, by 1975, the missionaries had arrived to preach the Gospel in Malawi and were in two groups, one that had been sent by the Free Church of Scotland and another sent by the Church of Scotland.
