No person under the age of 35 is allowed to run for president in Malawi, but one can run for president at the age of 100. I would rather be governed by a mature, energetic, capable, visionary, and credible 34 year old whose best 5 years will start in a year than by an 80 year old whose best years ended twenty years ago. But in Malawi, it seems the rule is, if you can no longer do, you should teach, and if you can no longer teach, you should govern. I cannot endorse the myopia and inconsistency of those who framed our constitution when they saw the gravity of the presidency as being incongruous with the folly of youthfulness, but did not see the rigors of the presidency as being incongruous with the senility and fragility of old age. Clearly this framework was created to prop up the life presidency of Kamuzu Banda, but that regime ended in 1994. So in a country where the median age is 17 years and life expectancy is at 54 years, having no age cap for the office of president is simply playing with fire. That our constitution does not bar one from running for president after the age of 65 is a joke that stopped being funny on a dark April day two years ago. We need to fix this constitutional mess from a bygone era. #PublicDemand
Posted on: Thu, 01 May 2014 20:35:51 +0000
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