Celebrated poet and spoken word artist Robert Chiwamba has condemned the appointment of old people in roles meant for the youth.
Writing on his Facebook page on Tuesday, Chiwamba expressed his dissatisfaction. He argued that the concept of youth is misunderstood.
“There is something in Malawi which makes me think that we define the word ‘youth’ loosely or in other words differently from the rest of the world,” he said.
The poet added that old people fail to perform when they are heading positions meant for the youths because they do not know their problems. He owes this to ignorance on what qualifies one to be a youth.
“No wonder most of the so called ‘youth’ organisations are headed by people who fail to present issues that affect the youth. How would they know them if they aren’t experiencing them? Shame!”
The post came soon after the appointment of Lucius Banda as President Lazarus Chakwera’s advisor on youth and arts. The coincidence made people to conclude that Chiwamba was attacking Chakwera for going after older people. Chakwera has also appointed retirees that have drawn the ire of people. However, Chiwamba told Malawi24 that his post was not an attack on Chakwera’s choice of appointing older people.
This post has been updated. An earlier version was headlined ‘Chiwamba attacks Chakwera’. The headline and lead have been withdrawn as Chiwamba says his post was not an attack on Chakwera; and it was misinterpreted.
We apologise to Chiwamba and regret any pain and inconvenience caused by the earlier version of the story.
