Artists trained to educate positively
Artists in the country have been asked to play a positive role in sensitising the public on the forthcoming tripartite elections through artworks with messages that inform, educate and shape positively the mind of the public on the elections.
Electoral Commission (EC) commissioner, Gloria Chingota made the call yesterday morning at Dika Hotel in Chirimba during the official opening of a two-days training for dramatists, comedians and road show actors drawn from across the country.
Chingota said messages that are packaged in dramatic format attract attention and easily stick to the brain. She said it is for this reason her office through National Initiative for Civic Education(Nice) have teamed up to drill artists on how they can package and communicate positively issues about elections.
“We believe theatre groups have the potential to reach many people and we need their support during civic education on voter registration and voting. We want them to adopt a positive approach when performing to educate the masses on the tripartite elections,” said Chingota.
The Commissioner also advised theatre groups to maintain a clean record in their activities saying they will be performing under EC identity.
“We don’t want to hear that girls are being abused during the sensitisation campaigns, or that some actors were performing while drunk, because this will dent our image,” she said.
Nice board chair Sheikh Idrissa Muhammad urged theatre groups to strive to convince eligible Malawians to participate in the electoral process.
On behalf of other artists, Frank Yalu of Nginde theatre company and MacArthur Matukuta of Solomonic Peacocks hailed EC and Nice for the training saying most people including actors are not well informed on the tripartite elections.
