POLITICAL VOICES

Timothy Pagonachi Mtambo

Minister of National Unity, Malawi

Timothy Pagonachi Mtambo is a politician and human rights activist, currently serving as Malawi’s cabinet Minister responsible for Civic Education and National Unity. He has led social justice movements in Malawi such as the Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation, the Citizens for Transformation Movement, and the Malawi Human Rights Defenders Coalition.

Mtambo has been the country’s focal point for the global Civil Society Coalition for International Criminal Justice, the Civil Society Coalition for Effective African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and the Pan-African Human Rights Defenders Network.

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Action

Founding and leading the Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) saw the creation of a first-of-its-kind, all-inclusive platform for every Malawian to inform State and International civil society policy on economic and socio-political issues that affect their everyday lives.

Established in 2017, the HRDC has over the recent years organized peaceful countrywide civil resistance activities and awareness campaigns, including citizen marches against the rampant abduction and killings of persons with Albinism. The Coalition also led nationwide protests in demand for electoral justice, which influenced the nullification of the 2019 Presidential election and the Constitutional Court’s subsequent call for a fresh presidential election in 2020. The newly elected government established the Ministry of Civic Education and National Unity, whose mandate is to promote civic education, social inclusion and progressive mindset change among the Malawian people. After only one year since its setup under my leadership, the Ministry has developed legislation for Malawi’s first National Peace and Unity Architecture as well as the Malawi Peace and Unity Commission.

Relevant discourse

“Through moments of tragedy and struggle to liberate ourselves and demand a better country, we have learnt the importance of national unity. Yes, we have learned through it all, that if we bury our tribal, religious and political differences and come together with the spirit of national unity, we can overcome and set this country on the path towards rebuilding and formidable success.”

–Interview with the Malawi Nation, 5 August 2020

“Acknowledging atrocities and dealing with them will help us to heal and ensure that citizens take up their role to safeguard freedom.”

–Public Lecture on Transformative National Values, December 2020

“The space between the Government and the people is the civic space and democracy operates in that space. Where there is no engagement between the Government and its citizens, this space becomes a gap that accommodates speculation, misinformation and innuendos. Our Ministry is here to ensure that this space is substantively occupied with the necessary engagement.”

-Meeting with the Quadria Muslim Association of Malawi, 2020

“Young people, say no to political violence! Be the agents of transformation.”

-Facebook Post, 2 June 2020

Leadership experience

I have discovered that if we are to truly promote inclusion and diversity in our societies, we must amplify our citizens’ voices because they matter most. Such a resolve will often meet fierce resistance from those who benefit when a nation is divided. When my family home and the HRDC offices were petrol bombed during the electoral protests of 2019, I was given a sobering picture of the future of Malawi that was at stake, and I realized that if there was ever a time to remain vigilant in the pursuit of Justice, it was then.

As Malawi’s Minister of Civic Education and National Unity, I am on a mission to foster peace, shared societies and national reconciliation in the wake of a political administration that used the cultural diversities of Malawians as a weapon to foster hate, corruption and nepotism. As such, our Ministry has set up consultative committees and engagement platforms across the country, so that every citizen can take part in public decision-making.

Timothy Pagonachi Mtambo's channels

Timothy Pagonachi Mtambo is leader on:

Reconciliation and social justice