By Isaac Salima:
President Lazarus Chakwera has urged fresh graduates at the Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences (Mubas) to focus on production rather than consumption.
Chakwera said this when he presided over Mubas congregation, which is the second since the institution was delinked from the University of Malawi in 2021.
“I am saying that each of us, as citizens, has a choice to make, and that choice is whether to produce more than we consume or to consume more than we produce. And although there are many citizens who say that they believe in production, you will find that their behaviour actually shows that their true religion is consumption,” he said.
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“The behaviours of a citizen whose religion and philosophy of economics is consumption are quite evident. They include acting with entitlement with resources that belong to others; or refusing to do things for oneself that are within your power to do; or waiting around for good things to come magically or miraculously instead of using the opportunities and resources God has already given you to create value, “ Chakwera said.
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The Malawi leader further said his expectation was that the time the graduates have spent at university had taught them that “this religion of consumption is not their path”.
“You need to understand that my vision as President is for you to take a different path, a path on which you produce more than you consume, and if you want or choose to follow me on that journey, you must show it by engaging in behaviours that orient your entire life towards production. These behaviours include spending time researching what areas of production are most lucrative and what markets are available in that area.
“They include creating innovative solutions that are tailor-made to meet the needs of that market. They include forging partnerships with people who will open doors for you to enter that market with your ideas and solutions in a win-win arrangement. They include staying away from masters of kulubwalubwa and kuwuwawuwa and clinging to those Malawians who are creating solutions and making change happen. They include staying up all night making something you can sell in the morning,” Chakwera said.
The President said he was proud that the current leadership at the institution was continuing the legacy and vision of the country’s first leader, Dr Hasting Kamuzu Banda, who opened the university.
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A total of 344 students graduated after completing their studies in different programmes.
The university’s vice chancellor Nancy Chitera said they were aligning their programmes with the aim of fostering production in the country.
“We reviewed our curricula last year, when we wanted two things to feature highly. We have included innovations and entrepreneurship and innovations not as a module but that in every module [that is] being taught, there has to be an element of those two. The reason is to change the mindset of everyone including the lecturers,” she said.
Chitera added that it was pleasing that the university continued to achieve its mission of widening access to education, saying, currently, the school is home to over 11,500 students.
She further commended the government for continuing supporting underprivileged students who have been accessing loans for their education, with 4,500 set to benefit from grants and loans this academic year.
