The National Initiative for Civic Education—NICE Trust has underscored the need for Malawians to acknowledge the unity that comes with diverse differences in political, religious and other affiliations ahead of the 2025 general elections.
The Trust’s programs manager responsible for Balaka District, Henry Zekeria, was speaking on Wednesday when the Trust held an engagement meeting with several key community structure leaders drawn from the area of Group Village Head Chiendausiku in the district.
Zekeria noted that community structure leaders are key in building and promoting peaceful co-existence and social cohesion of people during and in the aftermath of the elections.
He encouraged Traditional leaders to be non-partisan and refrain from showing favouritism to any political party position aspirant while encouraging them to allow for issue-based campaigns rather than leaders with hate speech, which may incite violence among the followers.
According to Zekeria, the Trust is geared to make sure there is peace and unity among different party followers ahead of next year’s elections by playing its role as a civic education body in the country.
“We must contribute to processes that can build the nation, looking at the political tension that may arise due to differences in political affiliations,” he said.
During the training, participants also had a chance to understand some of the laws governing the 2025 general elections such as the 50+1 voting system.
Lackson Likawa, Chairperson of Msamala Area Development Committee described the training as fruitful.
“The training has enlightened me to be aquatinted with different skills and knowledge on how to promote peaceful co-existence of people in the community despite a number of their political or religious affiliations,” said Likawa.
He has since pledged to trickle down the message to other people in his community.
