By Alick Ponje & Serah Chilora:
The Public Affairs Committee (Pac) has urged its members to refrain from posturing particular presidential candidates ahead of the 2025 elections.
The development comes at a time there have been veiled attempts by some religious leaders to drum up support for their preferred candidates every time campaign for the polls hots up.
And speaking in Mangochi District on Friday during a joint meeting of boards of mother bodies of Pac, chairperson for the quasi-religious organisation Father Patrick Thawale underscored the importance of religious leaders not taking sides in elections.
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The meeting was premised on providing Pac members with highlights on the Cannabis Regulation (Amendment) Bill, which Parliament recently passed, and rising water levels in Lake Malawi.
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Officials from the National Water Resources Authority and the Cannabis Regulatory Authority made presentations on the two issues.
Pac’s courted mother bodies were Malawi Council of Churches, Evangelical Association of Malawi, Muslim Association of Malawi, Episcopal Conference of Malawi and Quadria Muslim Association of Malawi.
Thawale said preferring particular candidates to others because they are “our own” compromises the reliability of the clergy.
“Religious leaders and, indeed, Pac mother bodies must be impartial in electoral processes. Mediators of Pac are drawn from mother bodies and if they favour one candidate over the other, the faith community’s integrity is compromised,” he said.
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The Pac chair further warned that weak intra-party democracy and hate speech are likely to trigger conflicts in primary and general elections.
He suggested that inclusivity, transparency and accountability in electoral processes can lessen internal party divisions.
While Thawale did not explicitly indicate the intra-party issues he was referring to, squabbles have been prevalent in former governing Democratic Progressive Party over who should lead the party at the 2025 polls.
They reached the crescendo with the firing of the party’s Southern Region vice president Kondwani Nankhumwa together with others seen to be siding with him.
The governing Malawi Congress Party is also embroiled in disagreements with some of its members who are opposing a resolution that those who have been in the party for less than two years will not be allowed to vie for National Executive Committee positions at the party’s elective convention.
At the Mangochi meeting, Thawale also rued the current economic situation in Malawi, saying every quarter of the country is feeling the pinch.
“Prices of products and services are exorbitant to the extent that one is not able to see any light at the end of the tunnel,” he said.
The Pac chairperson added that on political governance, swift decision-making and enhanced transparency and accountability remain priorities for improving Malawi’s economy.
“Sound democratic governance has a huge impact on economic development,” he said.
Thawale said there is a need for the government to address problems that Malawians are facing.
However, Information Minister Moses Kunkuyu told The Daily Times that government is revamping the economy.
Kunkuyu said the “commitment by the leadership is instrumental” to the resumption of direct budgetary support and the International Monetary Fund’s Extended Credit Facility.
“The success that we, as a country, are registering now and the prospects of economic growth this year and the fact that we are now registering a turnaround in our economy is a very good signal and very comforting.
“With the mining sector well-regulated now and the establishment of a mining company, the establishment of mega farms, the hyping of our tourism sector and the serious drive on digitisation, the country’s economy is on a growth trajectory and fruits will soon begin to emerge,” he said.
Kunkuyu further commended Pac for taking time to appreciate the Cannabis Bill, which awaits presidential assent following its passing by Parliament.
In another development, Pac has said it fears that there might be voter apathy at the 2025 elections due to what it calls “failure in economic and democratic governance spheres” being witnessed today.
Thawale said frustrations and loss of trust over unsatisfactory governance and economic outcomes might affect participation of potential voters.
He then called on Pac members and other stakeholders to play positive roles in the socio-political and economic spheres.
“Good governance is central to the strengthening of the national peace architecture in Malawi. Let us, therefore, start now to encourage people to participate in the forthcoming elections,” he said.
The Pac chair added that people’s full participation in the elections “may bring transformative leadership”.
