Young politicians labels 2015 as a year of poor politics and governance

As 2015 draws to an end, young politicians in Malawi have described the year as nasty in terms of politics and governance.

Young Politicians Union (YPU) says it made the rating in view of challenges Malawi has been undergoing over the year due to poor governance and politics.

In an interview with Malawi24, YPU Country Director, Clement Makuwa said he can see persistence of same political and governance chaos in 2016 since a lot of them remain unsettled.

Among others, Makuwa described the year as dormant and retrogressive on the part of political parties.

He pointed out intra-party conflicts as one challenge the country met which painted an awful picture of Malawi politics.

He said that this has led to a decrease in the number of young people interested to take part in politics.

“There have been intra-party conflicts in all the major political parties which have not been resolved to date and there is the likelihood we will go with the same conflict in 2016 which has a negative replica to the parties.

“Young people’s interest to participate in politics has been dwindling as a result of conflict which has a long term knock off effect to the politics of Malawi,” Makuwa said.

On governance, the YPU leader explained that people saw a high level of secrecy from the executive arm of government and the legislature a development he described as uncalled for in a democratic society.

Makuwa further said that people hardly accessed real information in the sale of the Malawi Savings Bank and its proceeds, in the Presidential entourage to the United Nations (UN), and in the issue of the two deputies purportedly drawing extra housing allowances under the pretext that they were staying in rented houses when in fact the houses belonged to them.

“These alone might seem very little but they undermine democratic principles and that’s transparency and accountability in a bigger picture as well as compromising the watchdog role on the part of parliament,” he said.

However, Makuwa called on all stakeholders to exercise their responsibilities in ensuring political tolerance and good governance and asked key players to be transparent and accountable for a better Malawi.