Malawians are commending President Lazarus Chakwera for engaging young people to unpack details in his State of the Nation Address (SONA).
After presenting the SONA in parliament few weeks ago, Chakwera took an initiative to engage the youth in all the three regions across the country to share details and answer burning questions on national development which the young one have.
Speaking in today’s Sunday Roundtable program on Capital FM, a lot of people who contributed in the program thanked Chakwera for creating the opportunity to include the youth on important matters.
A majority of random callers praised the Malawi leader’s gesture.
“What the President has done is very good. That engagement is a very good example of servant leadership. Most of us as the youth have no access to go to parliament but when leaders engage us, we feel part of the society and developmental plans,” said Isaac Banda calling from Nkando-Mulanje.
Another contributor, Mr. Maulidi, from Lilongwe’s Area 23 commended the government’s loan initiative to the youth through the National Economic Empowerment Fund (NEEF) while suggesting need for independence: “The government should make the NEEF loans very independent so as to benefit many young people and not politically connected people as has been the case before the organisation rebranded from Malawi Enterprise Development Fund (MEDF).”
Another caller from Neno, Joseph Steve Kakhobwe: “All along there has not been community engagement but Chakwera has thought it wise to include us (the youth). It took me by surprise when our youth club was approached that we should send a representative to the President’s Blantyre engagement. I commend the Malawi leader for allowing to take multiple opinion from the youth from different districts in the country without considering politics, religion and culture. This is what we have been waiting from Malawi leaders.”
Making his contribution during the program, one of the panelists Gomezgani Nkhoma of Mzuzu Youth Caucus, also joined the contributors in commending the Malawi leader.
He said: “The first thing is to thank the President for giving us an opportunity to engage with him on various concerns which we have. We would love this to be a continuous arrangement. We would love another series of similar events before September 16 elections.”
In his concluding remarks, minister responsible for the youth Uchizi Mkandawire hinted that President Chakwera is committed to uplifting the lives of the youth through various programmes.
“President [Lazarus] Chakwera is making sure that realization of the Agenda 2063 Vision requires human capital, and the youth, who are in majority are key to that.
“About 1.9 million jobs have been created since he became the Malawi leader in June 2020, some are getting opportunities to work outside the country, they are being provided with NEEF loans to start various businesses among others,” Mkandawire highlighted.
Among others, as part of youth empowerment initiatives, the government has increased the internship stipend from K80,000 to K150,000 in the proposed 2025-2026 national budget.
