I am one of those people, 32 as it is, who think I am not quite ready to take on the political challenges that I see continue to best my country - Malawi - but I remain quite interested in the political goings-on in my country. At 32, I take myself as quite youthful - others may think differently though and I do respect that; and I get quite excited when I see the "young" taking initiative to participate actively in the political goings-on in Malawi and therefore and naturally, the re-incarnation of the UDF's Young Democrats into the " UDF Youth For DEVELOPMENT" captured my attention and I still am celebrating the news. It is my sincere hope and prayer that this time round, by their own admission to the fact that they have been associated with violence before, the youthful energy in the UDF will be directed at noble causes, causes that do enhance "Development" – another aspect that attracted my attention in their re-incarnation – the aspect of development.
YOUTH & DEVELOPMENT; DVELOPMENT AND GOVERNANCE
In their 1997 policy Document entitled, Governance for sustainable human development - United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) say it without mincing words that "Governance and human development - the two are indivisible. Human development can not be sustained without good governance and that Governance can not be sound unless it sustains human development” – what a challenge for the youth wing of the United Democratic Front!
These truths, especially to the young must appeal as basis for participation in the political machinations for our country as we can not afford to be reeling around the wheels of bad governance, forever, if we are to leave a positive posterity for future generations. And to put it into context, UNDP defines the concept of governance as "the exercise of political, economic and administrative authority in the management of a country's affairs at all levels." They go on to intimate that governance is not simple and straightforward - it involves the complexities of the mechanisms that any setting of a population chooses to enhance its governance institutions and processes through which citizens and groups articulate their interests, mediate their differences and exercise their legal rights and obligations. Good governance has many attributes - it is participatory, transparent and accountable - and it promotes the rule of law (UNDP, 1997).
Good governance seeks to empower people, it is via set of corporation with other groups and institutions, it is equitable, it is built on a possibility of sustainability and it seeks to secure people’s livelihoods and their day to day security in whatever form.
GOVERNANCE & DEMOCRACY
Good governance is more and more being associated with democracy...and democracy intends to shift power balances amidst many participants and these include - government, the private sector and the civil society - and while such a machinery needs to operate in unison, checks and balances have to be in place and each one of the three should have the "mandate" to complement as well as to check on the other so that it is the people in the general population that benefit from such interactions.
POWER TRANSFERS IN A DEMOCRACY
While power transfers in democracies are meant to be smooth and people-centred, examples abound where ab-use has been the rule other than the exception - and especially in the so called "Third world" and the last time I checked Malawi belongs to that category of the world – the third world. Most of the democracies in the third world are just developing and still under threat from clubs and institutions that exercised power in an authoritarian way. In his book "Democracy in the Third World" Robert Pinkney points out three possible sources of threats to transitions of power in the third world’s upcoming democracies and these include - former one party believers (let us remember that MCP is very much alive amidst us and the people that vehemently resisted the change to democracy are still very much around us), the Military - the threat from the military in our case has always sounded and looked very remote and we probably can sit back in our comfort zones that this may not happen - provided we stop our politicians from poking their fingers at the army for no apparent reason and lastly Robert Pinkney talks of personal threats from strong individuals. Malawi has a very palpable threat on this front from a former president who is very willing to use every tactic in the book to have another go at the bowl of power - one Dr Bakili Muluzi.
Robert Pinkney identifies this threat as being possible because "personal rulers seldom want to surrender power and also they may leave few viable authoritarian structures behind." Tracking the history of leadership in and within the UDF - only one person stands out - one Dr Bakili Muluzi. At every corner and opportunity where there has been a real chance presented to the UDF to have real power change and letting it change & cross hands, Dr Bakili Muluzi has used every tactic in the book to keep and maintain that power in and within his reach and he has almost always managed to get it onto his lap. This behaviour needs to be checked out and pointed out very very assertively to Dr Bakili Muluzi because along the way he builds structures and accumulates friends that may be party to his return to power which he may not be willing to let go even at national level - and such an attempt is not very far from having been tried - only it failed by the smallest numbers of a legitimate vote in parliament.
I am saying all this because as the youthful energy in and within the UDF was being re-launched and re-cast, this is one area they should have identified as an area that needs attention - the leadership and power transfer in and within the UDF does not have the best of a history - but to my surprise - not that is surprises me that much, the youthful energy has made its positions crystal clear, they say and I quote (The full Press Release for this group of young people is below this piece of writing): - "Our movement and its leadership fully support the candidature of His Excellency Dr. Bakili Muluzi and believe that he is the rightful candidate to lead our party to victory in the 2009 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections." Nothing could have been sadder for me and it took away a lot of my celebratory mood at the “re-incarnation” of the UDF youth wing.
Based on both, the concept of good governance and the concept of participatory democracy, the Muluzi come back project can arguably be said to be working against both.
I for one would have expected the young people in the UDF to have been asserting themselves that they need no precedents of resistance and unwillingness to let go of power - no matter how good you may be - others may be better or be just as good. Muluzi is operating within a structure that may be building too much basis for his continued stay in power - and no matter which way we look at it - it is bad for good governance and it is bad for participatory democracy.
Isaac Cheke Ziba
Livingston
Scotland.
"What the opposition needs to do now is to acknowledge and understand that it has been outsmarted. But in politics you win some and lose some. Pick up the pieces and move on"..."the matter just falls on its feet legally and politically and good politicians should know when the matter is no longer politically viable." (Chimimba,T & Mwaungulu, D. (2008): respectively writing on Malawtalk & Nyasanet on the issue of s65 of the Malawi Constitution).
http://zibaisaaccheke.blogspot.com/
--- On Thu, 17/7/08, MNS
From: MNS
Subject: [MALAWITALK] What is the UDF Youth Wing?
To: MALAWITALK@MAILTALK.AC.UK
Date: Thursday, 17 July, 2008, 3:45 PM
PRESS STATEMENT
United Democratic Front Youth For Development Wing
INTRODUCTION
1.1 The United Democratic Front Youth For Development (UDF YFD) is an
organisation of the youth committed to the ideals of democracy, freedom, peace
and general development. It is governed by and adheres to the policies and
programmes of the UDF, a party which championed the introduction of multi-party
and democratic system of government in 1994. UDF YFD’s existence derives from
the UDF party Constitution as amended on 24 April 2008.
1.2 The UDF YFD, as a mass youth movement of the UDF, is committed to the
creation of a united, democratic, peaceful and prosperous Malawi. It shall
rally all the youth of our country to play an active part in the social,
economic and political development of their communities and the building and
defense of democracy. In doing so, the UDF YFD shall strive to achieve
fundamental social and economic change for the benefit of all young people in
Malawi. The UDF YFD is for the unemployed youth, professional youth, student
youth and all sectors of youth in our country. Our aim is to provide a real
political home to all the youth.
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
The UDF YFD shall:
1.3 Strive to rally the youth of Malawi to support and unite behind the UDF
YFD and actively participate in the struggle to create a united, democratic and
prosperous society. As an organisation of democrats we aim to be a school of
excellence for the next generation of political leaders;
1.4 Support and reinforce the United Democratic Front in the attainment of
the goals of the democratization and development process of our country;
1.5 Ensure that the youth make full and rich contribution to the work of
the UDF and the life of the nation;
1.6 Champion the general interests of the Malawian youth in the socio
economic and political life of the country and promote programmes that aim to
fight for the rights of young people as enshrined in the United Nations (UN)
Declaration on the Rights of Children;
1.7 Promote unity, patriotism and self-reliance among the youth;
1.8 Strive and work for the educational, moral, health, economic and
cultural upliftment of the youth;
1.9 Promote gender equality in all spheres of life, especially amongst the
youth;
2.0 Promote among the youth, independence, international solidarity, peace
and friendship with other nations.
2.1 Promote among the youth leadership values; a crime-free society; and a
society that thrives on open debate on issues. We denounce any form of
political violence.
2.2 This transformation is taking place in a context of a difficult
political and ideological environment, where we have over the last few years
witnessed a degeneration of our core values as citizens in a deeply polarized
and divided nation. This is a struggle where our ultimate goal is social change
and social justice, including among others safeguarding and defending our
democracy and multipartyism.
2.3 Poised against us are a range of forces determined to erode
Malawi's young democracy. However, the overwhelming support our party the
U.D.F is enjoying amongst the masses creates the right platform to push forward
our agenda in targeting poverty in an integrated manner.
2.4 Thanks to the resilience of our people and their unyielding will to be
free and their high level of consciousness we are duty bound, therefore, to
rise in defence of democratic values and respect for the rule of law.
THE CANDIDATURE OF DR. BAKILI MULUZI
2.5 Our movement and its leadership fully supports the candidature of His
Excellency Dr. Bakili Muluzi and believes that he is the rightful candidate to
lead our party to victory in the 2009 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections.
SEIZING THE OPPORTUNITY
2.6 Today our country has entered a new phase which has presented a host of
opportunities in readiness for the UDF's return to power next year. The
critical question of the day is our readiness as youth to take responsibility
both for our own development as well as the reconstruction and development of
our country.
2.7 What this means is that the youth must seize this opportunity accorded
to us by the UDF party in according us special recognition in the new
government next year.
2.8 In order for us as the youth of Malawi to seize on this opportunity and
be better equipped to fight poverty, we need to improve our competencies in all
fields we are involved; Social, economic and cultural including science and
technology, to raise our political understanding and discipline, to become
better citizens.
2.9 In order to achieve this we are in the process of developing a
comprehensive policy framework which will among others;
a) Intensify the campaign for youth economic participation in the next
UDF administration,
b) Engage the challenges of education, science and technology,
c) Participate in sports and continue to fight for its transformation,
d) Confronting the challenges of health by leading the offense against
HIV/AIDS, comprehensively.
e) Build a youth contract for a better Malawi, by forging partnerships
with other stakeholders against poverty
f) Strengthen and support the youth development institutions in the
country,
g) Empower women, fight sexism and create gender equality through
conscience and concerted political and socio-economic programmes.
ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE OF THE UDF YFD
3.1 The National Conference
3.2 The National Executive Committee
3.3 The National Working Committee
3.4 The Regional Committees
3.5 The District Committees
3.6 The Constituency Committees
3.7 The Area Committees
3.8 The Branch Committees
3.9 The Ward Committees
National Conference
4.0 The highest organ of the UDF YFD, is the National Conference and it
shall provide direction and leadership to the organization and determine the
policies and programmes of the UDF YFD. It is expected that a National
Conference will take place before the end of the year to among others, elect
office bearers. In the interim an executive committee has been established to
facilitate the day to day running of activities until the National Conference
is held.
Members of the Executive Committee and Interim Office Bearers
1. The Interim President
- Hon.
David Kanyenda, LLB (MW)
2. The Interim 1st Deputy President - Hon.
Gerald Mponda,MP
3. The Interim 2nd Deputy President - Vacant
4. The Interim Secretary General -
Hon. A. A. Muluzi, MP, LLB (UK)
5. The Interim Deputy Secretary General – Mr. Charles Nkozomba
6. The Interim Treasurer General - Mr.
Linga Lemani
7. The Interim Deputy Treasurer General -
Vacant
8. The Interim Director of Research - Mr.
Lancy Mbewe, LLM (UK)
9. The Interim Director of Media and Publicity Affairs – Mr. Ken
Ndanga
10. The Interim Deputy Director of Media and Publicity Affairs- Mr. Twink
Gadama
12. The Interim Director of Women Affairs - Mrs. Yvonne Mussa
13. The Interim Deputy Director of women affairs - Ms, Happiness Munduka
14. The National Director of Sports and recreation - Mr. Kuzeni Unyolo
MEMBERS
15. Hon. Lucius Banda
16. Hon.Ernerst Yahaya.MP
17. Hon. Angela Zachepa, MP
18. Mr. William. E.R. Jalani
19. Mr. Gerald. B. Kampanikiza
20. Mr. Maxwell C.W Nkhoma
21. Mr. Omar Ndekete
Ex-Officio Members
22. The President UDF Women's Wing (AND Deputies)
23. The Secretary General UDF Women's Wing
24. The Treasure General UDF Women's wing
25. The Organising Secretary UDF Women's wing
26. The Director of Political Affairs UDF and deputy
27. And up to 10 co-opted Executive Committee Members.
VACANT OFFICES
28. The Director of Party Organisation (AND Deputy)
29. The Director of Political Affairs (AND Deputy)
30. The Director of Campaign (AND Deputy)
31. The Director of Elections and Logistics (AND Deputy)
32. The Director of Legal Affairs (AND Deputy)
33. The National Director of Youth and Development (AND Deputy)
34. The Deputy Director of Sports and Recreation
35. The Deputy Director of Research
36. The Director of Local Government (AND Deputy)
37. The Director of Economic Affairs (AND Deputy)
38. The Director of Education and Vocational Training (AND Deputy)
39. The Director of Health and HIV/AIDS
40. The Director of Agriculture, Irrigation and Food Security (AND Deputy)
41. The Director of Population Affairs
42. The Director of Welfare and Social Services (AND Deputy)
43. The Director of Public Relations and Events (AND Deputy)
44. The Director of Religious Affairs and Civil Society Organizations(AND
Deputy)
45. The Director of International Relations (AND Deputy)
Interim Secretary General
Info;UDFYouth@yahoo.com 05114500/ 05114660
