Catholic priest Reverend Father Maxwell Kubalasa has called upon churches and civil society organizations (CSOs) to be vigilant in ensuring that citizens vote for the right leaders in the 2025 General Elections.
Kubalasa made the call in Mponela on Thursday when he opened a day-long training of trainers’ workshop organized by the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) under the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)-funded Malawi Electoral Support Program (MESP).
UNDP has awarded grants to CCJP through ECM and six other organizations to conduct voter and civic education across Malawi. The six projects focus on three key target groups: youth, women and the general public. For CCJP, the project focuses on “Enhancing the Participation of Women in the 2025 Malawi General Elections”.
Father Kubalasa said General Elections are important events in the country’s democratic process, as they provide the opportunity for citizens to exercise their rights to vote, choose their leaders, and subsequently participate in the crucial role of determining the future direction of the country.
He said churches and CSOs are therefore supposed to play an active role by providing civic education that would help citizens make informed choices during elections.
“The upcoming 2025 elections, as has been the case with all the previous six elections, calls upon the church and Malawians in general to be vigilant in ensuring that Malawians elect the right leaders. This job requires CCJP to have the capacity and resources to conduct civic education and raising awareness to all people in Malawi, more especially the marginalized groups like women, the youth and people with disabilities and all those who feel and think they are not relevant in society,” he said.
At this point, Father Kubalasa thanked UNDP for providing financial support to Episcopal Conference of Malawi (ECM) to help CCJP to start civic and voter education in good time in preparation for the 2025 elections.
In his remarks, Director of Social Development and Industries in the Archdiocese of Lilongwe, Brian Odhiambo, reminded participants that majority of Malawians are in discomfort due to economic challenges emanating from the recent devaluation.
Odhiambo stated that voters’ participation in elections is negatively affected when they are not financially comfortable.
“Voting is among the most critical civic duties for every citizen, therefore, there is need to maximise voting in 2025. It is the duty of the church through CCJP to encourage Malawians to participate in public life, and elections in particular. Let us use this opportunity to reflect together on what has been happening, asses the present situation and plan for the future. Planning helps us achieve a lot with the resources at hand, and within the stipulated time. Capacity building, knowledge sharing, all helps us achieve our mandate as required. Therefore let us take this meeting very seriously,” he said.
Odhiambo lamented that the youth, women and people with disabilities have been left behind through many years of oppression and marginalization.
He added that high illiteracy levels, some unacceptable traditions and cultures are factors, which have increased the gap between men and women when it comes to participating in elections and other development opportunities.
“Through this project, we need to find ways to narrow down this gap. More women need to be involved in decision making and more especially in elections both as voters and as candidates,” stressed Odhiambo.
