Malawi future leaders, where are you? Your time has come!
By Janet Karim
9 Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them. – Exodus 3:9
14 I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well. – Psalm 139:14
12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses. — 1 Timothy 6:12
On 6 July, 1974, I sat in the B and C Stand at the Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre, and was deliriously, irrationally, and frantically wild with jealousy, as our then Life President, Dr. H. Kamuzu Banda, admired and thanked the packed stands where people born after 1964, lovingly dubbed “Born Frees.” As someone that was born in captivity (innuendoes of the adoration of post-1964 Malawians) the Free Borns danced and paraded for all to see as Kamuzu waxed lyrical calling them the future leaders of Malawi. He said the country should work hard to ensure that they get all the education and training so they will adequately lead the country. Any Malawian who is 60 years and younger, is part of these Malawians, where are you? Your time has come, are you leading the affairs of Malawi.
Twenty years after fuming with jealousy (that I was not part of the country’s future leader, I bombarded the leadership arena through media work. As a de facto lead, in 1993 the newspaper I launched helped demolish the one-party dictatorship of the Malawi Congress Party under Kamuzu.After campaigns, press conferences and conferences, the Banda regime and the sole party for 30 years succumbed and gave way to a multitude of political parties; more important to the people were various freedoms like freedom of miniskirts for women, long hair and bell bottom trousers for men.
Thirty years have passed since 1993 and the fifty since 1974, where are the 50- and 60-year-old Malawians (former Born Frees)? What weigh-ins and impact are you having on the running of the affairs of the country?
Someone asked me, what did you do in your time of being a leader in the country? In response to the quest, I excitedly waxed lyrical (like Kamuzu the Lyrical Waxer in-Chief) and said apart from helping to formulate a women-friendly Constitution, many of questions I posed at press conferences yielded positive results (like female journalists on outside the country presidential trips), why the police were imprisoning the sex workers and not their clients.
But a great non-political contribution was with thanks to former late VP Justin Malewezi, former ministers Eddah Chitalo, Tim Mangwazu, George Mtafu, and civil servant Mary Shawa, and NGO operative Joyce Banda (Malawi’s former president, 2012-2014), I was part of the Malawi delegation to the 1994 Cairo Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) and helped forge Malawi’s policy on abortion. The Malawi stand is agreeably more advanced to the current one in the US. Malawi policy on abortion is that while it is banned, abortion may be performed under certain circumstances such as saving the lives of mother and/or baby, and in cases of incest or rape.
The policy has helped safeguard women from dying needlessly as is the case with the strict no abortion, and doctors and health officials are not threatened with prison terms. This is possible when Malawian leaders take up issues affecting the citizenry.
Going forward, what can you Malawi’s leaders do, apart from calling on people to go out on the streets to protest a government faux pas? It is a democratic right to demonstrate, but could something more tangible be done to get the results for the better of Malawi and Malawians? Absolutely, there is; and demanding the president’s resignation is not one of them.
Malawi’s future leaders (Born Frees) of 1974 should join a political party (many have done this) and stay committed to it (don’t participate in party-jumping for cash gain), run for political positions in council or parliamentary elections (to make and change laws) and even the presidency. When in a cabinet position, help the presidency govern the country with all the sobriety, temperance, clear-headedness, and moderation such positions require.
Other options are the creation of civil society organizations/NGOs; try to make them funded with Malawi money. This is done through membership fees, making the entity a mass-based one. The source of funding being local enables your entity to avoid foreign manipulation of your NGO; there is a lot of this currently going on.
The last option being advanced here is pleading with technology-efficient young Malawians to start news media like the one started by young reporters at Swahili Nation. It is so refreshing watching the young presenters of this channel because they bring the African perspective into the narrative about Africa. The time is very ripe for Malawi media using technology to present the Malawi perspective unhampered by foreign and unfriendly to Malawi lenses.
This is the time to tell Malawi events and happenings with the heart of a Malawian. Let it be said again
· Just because one is poor it does not mean one is unhappy
· Just because one has not gone to school, does not mean that one does not have an opinion
· Opinions of people are best gauged by the vote.
· NEVER miss the opportunity to vote.
Malawian Born Frees, your time to lead has come. Let us see you!