Malawi youth group launched to restore democracy
By Nyasa Times Reporter
A new Youth Organization currently being called Youth Association for the Restoration of Democracy in Malawi (YARDEMA) has emerged amid calls to restore Malawi’s lost glory and democratic values.
Yardema says that Malawi has completely lost truck on issues of democracy, good governance; rule of law and human rights despite such matters being enlightened in the republican constitution therefore needs to be respected.
The association is currently being run by an interim committee of about twelve members, spearheaded by one of the country’s renowned legal practitioners Wapona Kitta.
Kita told Nyasa TimesYardema’s main agenda is to make sure that the youths are playing an active role in politics and other administrative areas.
“The youth are not the leaders of tomorrow, they are the leaders of today and so they must take charge of affairs. The late Aleke Banda started to play his role at the tender age of 18 and he did so well, why should we wait for tomorrow when we can do it today?” wondered Kita.
Yardema meeting in Lilongwe on Wednesday night outlined some of the measures to be put in place in order to build up a proper structure for the association which is to be registered soon.
The idea of coming up with the association was sold through the popular social network Facebook and the group is currently having close to 1,200 online members, according to the interim publicity secretary, Elijah Phimbi.
Phimbi said it is encouraging that the youth of Malawi are forthcoming and support the cause for a better Malawi.
“The youth have responded very well and we are very happy that our membership has all young people with different backgrounds and expertise. The youth is the biggest constituency in Malawi and together we can change ‘things’ for the better, today not tomorrow for in the political world it seems that tomorrow never comes,” said Phimbi.
Kitta however said that one of the cornerstones of the group will be respecting the rule of law and to make sure that all the objectives should be to take measures to restore the democratic principles.
He also further said that the group is non-partisan and welcomed all Malawians regardless of political parties who are between the ages of 18-45 to take part in joining the group saying the group is likely to change Malawi for good.
“The group is currently working day in and day out seeking views of its online members on how best to run the organization before going out to rural areas because it believes active participation of all stakeholders,” said Kitta.
The interim committee is also asking its members to come up with alternative names if the name YARDEMA does not sound good.
“Once all the structures have been set, the organization will be going district by district conducting youth meetings where the youths will be highlighted on their importance and what roles they can play in a society,” said Kitta.
According to the committee, Yardema will open national and regional and district offices where youths will be operating apart from the online networking and registration of its membership.
Kitta said the registration will make it easy to know the accurate number of members as well as to know how many people are invited to convention where office bearers will be elected.
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