Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Bright Msaka has tipped young people on the skills and attributes they need to have for them to be credible and trustworthy leaders in the society.
Msaka – who is also legislator for Machinga Likwenu – said good leaders need to be credible and empathetic for them to excel in their undertakings.
He made the remarks in Lilongwe on Friday when he opened a Leadership and Governance Training Workshop, which was organized by Youth Advocacy Platform.
Msaka stated that both in government and private sector, systems are collapsing because of bad leaders, observing that majority of the people nowadays take leadership positions because of opportunities those positions present.
“People don’t take leadership positions because they want to change anything in an organization. NO! They take leadership positions because they want to benefit from the opportunities those positions offer. So, ask yourselves why you want to be leaders. If you feel like one day you want to be CEO of Admarc because you want to sell the maize pretending its rotten, you want to be a PS for Ministry of Agriculture because you want to buy fertilizer from a butchery, then you are disqualified,” he said.
He stressed the need for Malawi to build the cadre of leaders that is hardworking and has right skills to inspire others to perform outstandingly.
Msaka said young people need to critically analyze the reasons motivating them to vie for any leadership position.
“Go out there and be interested in output. What are we achieving? Don’t be misled by absorption capacity, but what we are achieving out of what you were allocated. Activity isn’t the same thing as accomplishment. Being at work is not the same as working,” he said.
Speaking in an interview afterwards, Msaka said he expects the students he had interacted with to become selfless leaders who will aspire for top positions in order to serve.
“I am expecting that after my interface with these students, we are going to have leaders that are selfless, that take on positions of leadership not for themselves, but for the public good or for the good of the institutions that they will lead. Here is the difference: people that aspire for leadership in order for them to acquire the benefits that come with that position, or the people that aspire for leadership in order to improve things either in the country or in the organization that they lead. I am hoping that after today, the team of leaders that we have interfaced with today will be latter kind of leaders who will be there for the benefit of the people,” he said.
YAP Programme Coordinator Elias Mambo said the purpose of the training was to equip young people with leadership skills.
Mambo disclosed that his organization had noted that many young people lacked capacity and skills to enable them to lead in various spheres of life.
“Most of these young people are university students. We are targeting university students because we believe they are almost there close to occupying positions of leadership in the society,” he said.
A representative of the students, Dorica Manda, described the leadership and governance training workshop timely, saying the skills they gained will enable them become effective leaders.
YAP is a registered national youth-led not-for-profit organization, which aims to promote citizen, youth and community-led participation in the implementation and monitoring of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through capacity building and advocacy so that the citizenry realizes full potential.
The organization provides a platform for engagement, opportunities, self-awareness and discovery, capacity building, skills acquisition, networking and career development.