MCP engages extra gear on youth mobilisation

Malawi Congress Party (MCP), through its Youth Coordinating Committee, is on a strong drive to mobilise young supporters across the country to strengthen the party’s resolve ahead of next year’s national general elections and over the weekend the committee sponsored football bonanzas in five constituencies of Blantyre City.

This is quite a huge contrast to what the ruling party did on Sunday by organising a beer bash for youths on Sunday at Kamuzu Stadium as a counter measure against the crowd-pulling Vice-President Saulos Chilima’s United Transformation Movement (UTM) rally that was held at Njamba Freedom Park.

Instead, the MCP decided to engage the youth in a different way by organising football bonanzas in Soche (Blantyre City South East constituency), Ndirande (Blantyre Malabada), Chilomoni (Blantyre City West), Mbayani (Blantyre Kabula) and Machinjiri (Blantrye City Central) in a drive to market their aspirant Members of Parliament to the youths.

A visit in all these areas by this reporter found enthusiastic youths active in their games and watched by equally excited crowd and was told that the teams participating are well established and popular in the areas.

MCP has a young wing called Young Patriots under the arm pit of the national Youth Coordinating Committee, which organises these events.

The MCP National Youth Coordinating Committee member Charles Mwambyale said the motive behind the football bonanza was solely to continue with their drive to market their aspirant Members of Parliament to the youths, whom they believe hold the future of a good leadership for the country.

“Previously, the youths haven’t been that active in politics but we want to let them know that the future of this country is in their hands since they are a majority of the voters,” Charles Mwambyale said as he watched games at Soche Teachers Training College ground.

“The youths should be active and take centre role in determining the future of this country. They should aspire to hold senior party positions as well because leadership is in the youths.

“Our role is to unify the youths and we could not do it better to bring them together than organising the football bonanzas because this is one social amenity that brings the youths together,” he said.

In all the other areas, Ndirande (Blantyre Malabada); Chilomoni (Blantyre City West); Mbayani (Blantyre Kabula) and Machinjiri (Blantrye City Central), which were quite far from what was taking place at Chilima’s crowd pulling rally, the games attracted a good crowd especially for the final matches.

In what has been criticised as a total lack of prudence and parental care, the DPP organised a free beer bash at Kamuzu Stadium in an effort to deter people from attending Chilima’s much touted rally that took place just about two kilometres away.

People went to town on social media in criticising the decision to make youths get drunk instead of imparting proper wisdom for them to do to economically empower themselves.

Led by its chairman Bright Mtema, the Southern Region MCP Young Patriots is encouraging the youth wings in various parts to stay focused and united in order to come stronger till May next year.

“Leadership is in us youths,” Mtema said. “It’s our role to make sure that we elect visionary leaders who shall in turn lead us to become good leaders as well. It’s our task to change things and it starts here as we prepare for the 2019 general elections where I urge you to vote for your conscious.

“We have a visionary leader in our president Dr. Lazarus Chakwera and he has plans to make sure the youths shall take a huge role in trting to transform this country,” he said.

Mtema said the Young Patriots wing is an operational team of the party in all regions and it’s task is to make sure its youthful supporters remain focused and united.

The young Patriots have carried out these sensitisation campaigns in many parts of the country ahead of the national general elections in May next year, whose Malawi Electoral Commission’s registration exercise has already been rolled out in phases up to November this year.

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