President Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera on Monday presided over the swearing in ceremony for the first cohort of the commissioners for the Malawi Peace and Unity Commission with a call to the commissioners to advocate for sustainable peace for the country to achieve its socio-economic aspirations.
Chakwera described the establishment of the Malawi Peace and Unity Commission as the apex of his administration’s efforts to establish the National Peace Architecture.
He said since 2012, various efforts to get this done were frustrated by lack of political will; hence, he was happy to have his desire for the establishment of the institution fulfilled during his regime.
“Mind you, I do not believe that the lack of political will to do this in the past was occasioned by malicious intent. Instead, I believe that it is just a reflection of the general lack of awareness in our midst of the importance of active engagement in peace-building processes,” he said.
“In fact, to some extent, I believe that it is a reflection of the fact that we are a nation that has always been at peace and never known armed conflict, which has induced us to take our nation’s state of peace for granted, and to also grow complacent in our consideration of what our role is in being God’s answer to the prayer we make to him whenever we recite our National Anthem, petitioning him to bless this land of Malawi and keep it a land of peace.”
President Chakwera stated that the establishment of the Commission is key in providing a strong institutional framework within which peace-building initiatives will be coordinated with consistency.
He said this will nip any threats to the nation’s peace and unity in the bud in collaboration with all stakeholders.
Chakwera further emphasized that events in the recent memory and at various points of Malawi’s history should give citizens sufficient cause and pause to see the importance of having ‘this safety net’.
“We may not have had any armed conflict here, but as we all know, there have been many occasions on which our people’s religious, regional, tribal, political, and moral sensibilities have either been intentionally or inadvertently stoked and provoked to destabilize the country,” said the President.
“So if we are going to safeguard our nation’s peace long-term, not only to facilitate the enjoyment of our freedoms, but also to create the conditions necessary for sustaining development and attracting investments in pursuit of achieving the Malawi 2063 Vision, then we must become methodical and intentional in our active construction of the pillars of peace. As such, since the objective of building peace is to safeguard the enjoyment of civil liberties and economic rights of all Malawians, it is imperative that we have this Peace and Unity Commission to identify the structural factors in the socioeconomic fabric of our nation that need to be confronted to neutralize their capacity to perpetuate inequalities that often form the basis of violence, injustice, and a breakdown in the public’s observance and respect of the rule of law,” he added.
Chakwera expressed confidence that the selected cohort is a more formidable and respected group of Malawians to serve as the nation’s first ever Peace and Unity Commissioners.
