By ECM correspondent
Young Christian Workers (YCW) movement in Malawi, a grouping of Catholic youth, now has new leadership at the national level. The movement had an extra-ordinary Annual General Meeting (AGM) on 14th May 2016 at Fish Eagle Cottage in the lakeshore district of Salima, whose main agenda was to hold elections, three years after similar elections were held.
The YCW movement in Malawi is now being led by Augustine Mulomole from the Archdiocese of Lilongwe, as the National President, who has now replaced Mike Chibwana from the Archdiocese of Blantyre. The movement’s Vice President is Chrispin Ngunde from the Archdiocese of Blantyre while Agnes Petro and Mphatso Bazale are the movements Secretary and Vice Secretary from Chikwawa and Mzuzu dioceses respectively.
The newly elected Treasurer for the movement is Henry Zamaere from Karonga diocese while Richard Mankhwazi and Victor Matoga are committee members and they are from Mangochi and Zomba dioceses respectively. Dedza diocese is also nother committee member.
Announcing the election results, the Diocesan Youth Chaplain from Zomba Rev. Fr. Stephen Piyo who was franked by his fellow diocesan youth chaplains Rev. Frs. Chris Sichinga and Frank Mwinganyama of Mangochi and Archdiocese of Blantyre respectively, said the election results will be confirmed by the Episcopal Conference of Malawi (ECM).
“This process has been very transparent and all of us have been given the opportunity to participate. Congratulations to the newly elected team, and we pray that the Holy Spirit should guide you as you take up this challenge. We also give thumbs up to the outgoing team for a job well done,” he said.
The elections at the national level follow the synchronisation of the electoral calendar by the Catholic Church in 2015, during which all the church structures underwent the exercise at all levels. Commenting on the synchronisation of the electoral calendar, Fr. Mwinganyama told the delegates that the laity council under the Catholic Church has set up rules and regulations guiding the electoral processes.
“The laity council has proposed that in all the church elections, positions will be competed for based on areas of expertise for the contestants. For example, if a candidate is serving as chairperson at deanery level, he/she will be eligible to contest as president at diocesan level. The same applies to the treasurer or secretary positions whose holders will also be eligible to contest for similar positions at diocesan level,” he said.
Currently, any candidate can compete for any position during elections whether at deanery, diocesan and national level.
In his farewell speech, Chibwana the outgoing YCW national president thanked all the members for their untiring support towards the outgoing team.
“We had a very smooth run during our tenure of office because we received support from all the dioceses. We are appealing to you to continue rendering the same support to the in-coming team. Yes we have achieved some milestones, but there was a lot that we could do which will now have to be done by the newly elected office bearers,” said Chibwana.
Taking his turn, the in-coming YCW national president Augustine Mulomole thanked the outgoing team for a job well done.
“The outgoing president has outlined a number of issues which the newly elected team should take note of and implement. We will take it up from there; we are not starting from scratch. The outgoing team has done a very tremendous job. As they say first things first, the newly elected team will definitely prioritise the forthcoming celebrations in November this year marking 60 years of YCW existence in Malawi,” said Mulomole.
The national president also singled out the development of YCW Strategic Plan which the outgoing team was championing, as another priority area for the newly elected team.
Over 60 delegates attended the extra-ordinary AGM from seven out of the eight dioceses in the country namely: Blantyre, Chikwawa, Karonga, Lilongwe, Mangochi, Mzuzu and Zomba. Due to other unforeseen circumstances, Dedza diocese was not represented at this AGM.
YCW movement was established by a Catholic Priest in Belgium, Rev. Fr. Joseph Cardjin in 1924, who had the passion for the youth and encouraged them to work hard following the effects of the industrial revolution that were impacting negatively on young people.
The youth movement is recognised by the Catholic Church, and has branches across the globe, Malawi being one of them after having been established nationally by Rev. Fr. Sam Saffroy at Mua Parish in Dedza Diocese in 1956.