ON THE POLITICS OF JOB CREATION IN MALAWI

As the clock ticks towards the 2019 elections, job creation has featured more prominently in recent political rhetoric. With national unemployment rates being highest among the youth, political leaders undoubtedly see this as an opportunity to win the youth vote since, demographically, youths form a majority in the country's population.

Promises and counter-promises have been made by politicians. The United Transformation Movement (UTM) for example is known for the ‘one million jobs creation in one year’ promise coupling it with the argument that their youthful presidential candidate, Dr. Saulos Chilima, represents the genuine change of fortunes for youths. The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), on the other hand, has unveiled sumptuous programmes aimed at creating jobs for the youths in the 2018/19 financial year. These include a 5-billion-kwacha allocation to youth afforestation programme and a youth internship programme targeting hundreds of graduate youths. Speaking at the sidelines on a youth policy conference recently held in Lilongwe, the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) revealed that it is going to form a youth-centered government once voted into power.

These promises share a number of commonalities. One of them is the recognition that youth unemployment is a vice that must be faced head-on. Another aspect, perhaps owing to the political nature of the promises, is the emphasis on short-term interventions to the problem. The last and most important common issue is that these political promises clearly state that it is the so-called government that will bring solutions to the youth unemployment problem, in essence creating a provider-beneficiary dichotomy.

Missing conspicuously is a sustainable long-term framework for dealing with the problem. When we create one million jobs in one year, what next? When we spend the 5 billion kwacha employing the youths to plant trees in the rainy season and successfully absorb thousands of graduate interns, what next? When a youth-centered government is put in place, what next? If long-term plans are not put in place at the very start, most interventions end up stumbling midway. What Malawian youths need most is some intervention that is going to serve them for long. The current youthful demographics of the population are likely to swell further in the next couple of years making long-term interventions a necessity.

It is, therefore, demanded that those promising to create employment opportunities must unveil clear plans for sustaining what they are saying. Most importantly, in the spirit of participatory democracy, the tendency of creating solutions up there and imposing them down on the youths must be minimized. Youths deserve to take part in the conception process of programmes aimed at dealing with unemployment and other youth problems. Youth must not be pushed to the receiving end of the dichotomy. If this requirement continues to be ignored, Malawi shall forever have an unproductive youth. Allowing youths to lead the way will be a great milestone in dealing with the problem of youth unemployment once and for all.