EMPOWERING THE YOUTHS

By Pacharo Felix Munthali
Malawi leader, President Dr Bingu Wa mutharika, is possibly a bigger dreamer than himself. He seems to dream like someone who dreams everything he does or achieve. Some have said that even before people knew that one day he would assume the role of the first citizen of Malawi, he had already dreamed of being one.
Even though in 1999 his party did perform miserably, less than Kamlepo Kalua's Tchwee Mwana Tchwee sloganed party, with age catching up with him at a splinting fashion, his dream neither faded nor did he look back – had hope in his dreams.
During the Media chat he had a month ago, the president put it lucidly how he wishes he had a media center, where journalists could go to interact and find all sorts of information for the success of the profession. The old man keeps on dreaming, even though he might be at turbulent time - he still find way to divert out of the forest of political uncertainty and build a paradise in Malawi, though at times it look more of illusion than reality.
Now at a time when the youths are plunged in all sorts of human miseries, with punishing unemployment blocking their thinking veins, the president seems to have plans for them as well – at least not misusing the youths politically.
As the National Youth Policy stipulates: "the youth profile in Malawi shows lack of basic opportunities available to them, although they constitute a large sector of population," yet they are the ones facing lots of impediments.
This has been compounded by the presence of a range of adverse conditions that impinge on the youth; the most seriously being poverty."
But the National Youth Policy with lack of multi-sectoral approach cannot achieve its goal of seeking "to develop the full potential of the youth and to 'promote' their active participation in National development."
Such scenario amongst a colossal of reasons culminates in "youth non-involvement in decision making."
For long time the youths have been told that they are the leaders of tomorrow. But the question is still unanswered, when does tomorrow come? What is tomorrow? There are time you find a very senior official, be it a politician or otherwise, telling a group of school leavers some of them in late twenties or there about, that their tomorrow shall come.
The political field is another area that is drowning the youths into an abyss of hopeless and uncertainty. You find someone in the youth league from twenties until he or she gets sixty, yet they call that one a youth, whose tomorrow is coming. When is tomorrow coming?
With our educational system up to the universities that emphasizes on finding white-collar jobs, it means more graduates looking for jobs flood the market, each year escalating the problem almost already out of hand. For MSCE holders more are languishing in their homes, jobs have grown legs to be found. The question of capital for them to start their own business seems to not have any immediate answers.
The dream of president Bingu Wa mutharika shouldn't have come at the right time. During the occasion he put it lucid that there are many youths looming around the streets not knowing what to do, as they are many of them than the jobs available.
At a time when to have a business loan you need a collateral that favours only the elites in the country's commercial banks, for the youths to be empowered and stand on their own the only way to achieve that is through availability of ordinary people friendly loans.
As the president put it, he wants to establish Malawi Development Bank with the aim of developing "local business men" that happens to be ordinary Malawians.
With the bank he said: "you can get a loan somewhere and the bank will guarantee" to this far the bustling problem of collateral as an obstacle will be silenced.
As other countries are boasting of owners of the giant Search Engine Google in their thirties here, we are having people in their thirties, forties and there about doing nothing. It is a pity that politicians are using some of the country's youths, in various ways some of which are detrimental to their future. In the end the youths are giving in not by choice but because of circumstances beyond they muscles resulting in accepting politicians to misuse them.
The country needs the youths that have been empowered – the youths who can be visionary and dream what they want their country to be like in the years to come. With the Malawi Development Bank, done the way it is said if it manages to crawl from cobweb of dreams into reality, chances have it that the youths can forget about the past miseries and look forward to a prosperous tomorrow. At least everybody with some doses of pragmatism can keep on dreaming, letting those dreams crawl in the process.
But how does the country dream? The does not need the escalation of the very same businesses that all and sunder do. People must be innovative. Copying each other can not help the nation. The said Malawi Development Bank must encourage the people to bring unique ideas for the business, not selling mandasi in the whole neighbourhood.
As the president dreams so should the Malawians. All should think of what they can do for their country. The youths if given the capital, they should be encouraged. Our education system must change – it should groom students to be entrepreneurs, not as someone who will be employed as a boss at a certain organization, company or government. It's only the visionary that excels ion this world of ruthless liberalization, and involving the youths in all this is a key.