President Lazarus Chakwera says there is need to learn from the Malawi Young Pioneers (MYP) programme which he has described as a wonderful enterprise that had its positives.
Chakwera made the remarks when he met young people at Kamuzu Palace in Lilongwe as part of commemorations for the International Youth Day which falls on August 12.
During the meeting, one of the young persons, Thembi Thadzi, asked Chakwera’s administration to analyse the MYP programme and focus on the positives while leaving out the bad things that happened.
“Let’s look at the good things that came out of young pioneers. There are people who benefited from the MYP,” said Thadzi.
She added that some people learned about carpentry and agriculture through the MYP which contributed to the socio-economic development of the country.
Thadzi also talked about reviving the National Youth Week programme where youth volunteered in their communities for a week.
Chakwera, in his response, said MYP was a wonderful enterprise but the problem was that it was militarized and used to harass people during the Malawi Congress Party’s one party regime.
Chakwera who is also Malawi Congress Party (MCP) leader added that there is a need to learn from the programme by adopting the positives and not repeating the bad actions.
“Even in our bad past, not everything was bad. There are a lot of initiatives we can learn from and taking lessons from the bad ones to avoid repeating history.
“When we are implement the National Youth Service for example, we need to make sure that we avoid the bad initiatives and encourage the good ones,” said Chakwera.
The MYP started was a movement that engaged young people in development activities but it turned into a militia and spy group for former President Kamuzu Banda. The group was disbanded in 1994, the year Banda lost power.
