Political violence free debate live on Zodiak Sunday night
Youth-Decide Campaign have organised a public debate whose sole focus is to provide a refelective and constructive platform for political parties and electoral stakeholders to interrogate the current state of political violence and solutions to curbing it.
The debate, which is in partnership with the DanChurchAid Malawi, has sought Directors of Youth of key political parties, Malawi Police Service (MPS), Public Affairs Committee (PAC), National Initiative for Civic Education (NICE) and the 50:50 Campaign Agency as its main panellists.
It will be broadcast live Sunday evening from 6:00pm from Golden Peacock Hotel in the capital Lilongwe.
According to a press statement released and signed by Youth-Decide Campaign Team Leader, Charles Kajoloweka, the continued incidents of violence across the country threatens not only the credibility of the 2019 elections process and outcome, but also puts the country on a dangerous path of political instability and gross human rights violations.
He observed that, if not tamed, violence will scare away a majority of potential voters particularly the first-time voters and the youth—who constitute 54 per cent of the currently registered voters—from the electoral process including voting with possibility of leading to voter apathy.
“This debate will provide an opportune platform for citizens and stakeholders who hold relevant authorities including the Malawi Police Service, political parties and civil society actors accountable on their role in dealing with political violence thereby calling relevant authorities and stakeholders to duty in promoting peace and political co-existence as the country approaches the 2019 tripartite elections,” reads the press release in part.
In addition, it says, the debate is also hoped to create a platform for raising awareness among citizens and stakeholders on political violence and their role in mitigating it.
Among them, participants to the debate will include key stakeholders including political parties, Malawi Police Service (MPS), civil society organisations, academia, and youth and women.
The Youth-Decide Campaign (YDC) is a national youth governance initiative developed to galvanise positive youth energies and active participation ahead of, during and after 2019 tripartite elections in Malawi.
The Campaign’s overall goal is for the youth to have the capacity and ability to influence democratic governance and development policy in Malawi.
It is led by a consortium of five youth-serving organisations namely Youth and Society (YAS), Network for Youth Development (NfYD), Young Politicians Union (YPU), Youth Net Counselling Organisation (YONECO) and Malawi Hub (MHub
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