MALAWI: Commissions Urged to Utilize Church Resources for Civic Education ahead of the General Elections
The Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace, Communications and Research Commission, Pastoral Commission and Pontifical Mission Societies in Malawi have been challenged to make use of the rich resources the Catholic church has locally and internationally to facilitate civic education ahead of the country’s general elections.
This was said by the Secretary General of the Episcopal Conference of Malawi (ECM), Rev. Fr. Henry Saindi when he opened a collaborative meeting attended by the commissions’ national and diocesan Secretaries at Nantipwiri pastoral centre in Blantyre Archdiocese.
The meeting was convened so that the commissions should agree on joint working modalities and reflect on how the church should sensitize the citizenry on the church’s teachings on good leadership. This is due to the accreditation of CCJP and Communications and research commissions by the Malawi Electoral Commission to conduct voter and civic education in preparing the general public for 2019 tripartite elections.
“This meeting is very important to the country and the church since the church has always advocated for good leadership. The accreditation of the two Commissions is an opportunity that we collaboratively reflect on how best the church can help the country achieve good leadership.” Said Fr. Saindi.
He also recognized the fact that, the there is a large number of the Catholic faithful in the country stating that, they can determine the direction Malawi takes in the coming five years through the coming elections just as the Bishops determine the course of politics in the country through Pastoral letters.
Fr. Saindi therefore urged the commissions to make use of the resources in the church and help people understand qualities of a good leader guided by the catholic social teachings.
“We have a lot of strength as a Catholic church, we have people in large numbers as 30% of the country’s population are Catholics, we have an operational structure from national to grassroots level, we have four media houses, a Television station and two print media houses, we have materials like the pastoral letters and the catholic social teachings, we have the human resource in various groups like Catholic Women Organization, Catholic Men Organization, Youth Movements, Christian Family Movements, Marriage Encounter and many others who should be utilized in advancing the agenda of the church in the civic and voter education to be conducted”. Said the Secretary General.
He said that, Malawi has suffered bad leadership and through the meeting, the church would like to identify issues to be advocated for during the 2019 elections which will help the people realize and understand qualities of a good leader and vote for deserving people into power for the betterment of the country and the church.
In his remarks, CCJP Acting National Coordinator, Mr. Bonface Chibwana confirmed that, the commissions are mandated by the church and also the Constitution of the country to help the people understand who a good leader is and choose leaders who will serve Malawi better.
“Let us realize that elections are a struggle and people are called names, let’s be prepared and do our work well. Through this collaboration, we plan to develop training manuals for civic education, train the youth on civic education, do community awareness campaigns in rural areas, Radio and TV programs, and develop ICT materials among other activities which will help a lot in the electoral process. Said Mr. Chibwana
The Catholic church find it necessary to conduct the voter and civic education for mind-set change of the masses with the aim to help the country overcome problems of political affiliations according to one’s tribe and region, buying favours by politicians through gifts which exposes the country to bad leaders.
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By: ECM’s Stella Zulu
