By Dean Chisambo
The Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) has engaged youth leaders from Malawi’s major political parties to discuss strategies for mitigating political violence ahead of the 2025 general elections.
The event was held on Tuesday in Lilongwe.
In his remarks, CHRR Executive Director Michael Kaiyatsa emphasized that young people in Malawi are sometimes exploited by political leaders to perpetrate acts of political violence.
“That’s why we thought it was important to bring them together to share the importance of maintaining peace, especially before and after elections,” said Kaiyatsa.
He noted that the engagement also aims to encourage inter-party dialogue among young leaders.
“What we want is for them to sit down, put their political differences aside, and discuss ways of ensuring a peaceful election,” he said.
Kaiyatsa concluded by stating that young people should be at the forefront of promoting peace and active participation in the upcoming elections.
Director of the Young Politicians Union in Salima, Frank Chikafumbwa, described the event as important, as it provided a platform for youth from various political parties to converge and discuss strategies for conducting peaceful, free, and fair elections.
Chikafumbwa stressed that many politicians often exploit youths to incite violence.
“So from this dialogue, we expect the youths to become ambassadors for implementing violence-free elections,” he said.
He added that whenever politicians attempt to involve youths in violent acts, they should speak out and refuse, prioritizing peaceful elections.
The meeting successfully brought together young people from different political parties to strategize and promote peace ahead of and after the 2025 general elections.
