‘Active citizenship key to good governance’
The National Initiative for Civic Education (Nice) Trust has called for the active participation of Malawians in various initiatives to realise good governance and sustainable social, political and economic development of the country.
Nice regional Civic Education Officer (Centre), Christopher Naphiyo, made the call at
Chakaka Teacher Development Centre at Benga in Nkhotakota when he opened a review and planning meeting for the community-based development committees.
The meeting, which was organised with financial assistance from Water Aid Malawi, targeted the Women Action Group (Wag), Citizen Forum, Village Development Committee (VDC) and Health Advisory Committees (Hac).
Naphiyo urged Malawians to always speak out whenever problems arise within their communities.
“This culture of silence and passive citizenship has, for a long time, robbed us of our constitutional right to development. Government cannot just dream that we have concerns unless we voice them out. Let us stand up and voice out our developmental concerns,” he said.
Secretary for Benga Wag, Stella Nyirenda, disclosed that the trainings and capacity building they got through the Nice and Water Aid Malawi partnership has helped the committees to closely work with public structures to track implementation of various development projects in their areas.
But Nyirenda emphasised that mobility remains their biggest challenge in reaching out to communities with solutions to challenges affecting them.
“We humbly request Nice and Water Aid Malawi to consider assisting us with bicycles so that we can easily move from one point to another in tracking development projects to see to it that they are indeed benefitting intended people,” she implored.
Nkhotakota Nice District Civic Education Officer, James Mumba, hailed the collaboration among the committees, saying it has played a pivotal role in changing the understanding of roles and responsibilities of citizens in the district.
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