Founder and current president of the Citizens for Transformation (CFT), Timothy Pagonachi Simbega Mtambo, on Saturday bounced back to the podium and immediately seized the opportunity to warn university students in Malawi to guard against being used as instruments of violence by greedy politicians.
Mtambo – a revered human rights activist-turned politician – also advised young people not to be satisfied with short-lived socio-economic gains such as party T-Shirts or financial incentives floated to them from selfish political fabric.
He made the sentiments at the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR) where he was Guest of Honour at the Mr. and Miss LUANAR 2023 event.
His attendance and presence at this function came amidst fake social media reports from Leah Mbughi, who wrote on his Facebook page insinuating that Mtambo had committed suicide over political issues.
In his remarks, Mtambo emphasized that universities are strategic institutions for transformation of any country; hence, the students need to be agents of new innovations.
“I therefore call for collaborative efforts to build a better and transformed Malawi for there shall no longer be another Malawi. This is our country, and indeed Malawi is our heritage, we must all be involved in building her. We must all stand on our generational civic duty, guided by the principle premised on the belief that destiny must be written by us and not for us,” he said.
Mtambo tipped the students to embrace any opportunity of the moment, including capitalising on their precious talents and skills to be effective players in all fronts where there is a need for calibration.
“Be it entertainment or sports. Let us work extra harder on ourselves and emerge enlightened. As one family of LUANAR, we need to witness some of us competing at continental and global heights in all opportune multiple socio-economic platforms available. Let us make ourselves available to take such spaces. Change starts in universities and let us be agents of change,” he said.
Turning to the business of the day, Mtambo urged the students to take advantage of the contest to challenge and believe in themselves and conquer the imaginary thoughts of limitations created by their mindset.
He said young people are the engine and blood for the national socio-economic acceleration.
He further stressed that Malawians now deserve civilized politics as primitive politics has, for a couple of good times, crippled to elevate the nation.
“We come from a variety of political backgrounds. The fact remains, uncivilised politics is dirty and kills the soul of the nation. Let us refrain from being victims of political manipulation. Selfish and unambitious politics hates development. I therefore humbly appeal for spontaneous unity for inclusive development amid diversity of political ideologies,” he said.
