Malawi Young Pioneers

The Malawi Young Pioneers (MYP) were the paramilitary wing of the Malawi Congress Party. Their Commander-in-Chief was President Hastings Kamuzu Banda. They originally were supposed to function as a national youth service program with a development agenda. However over time, they strayed away from this agenda and became an intricate network of espionage and terror. The Young Pioneers were a major instrument for the operationalisation of Dr Banda's one party state dictatorship and domestic terrorism. Pioneers bore arms, conducted espionage and intelligence operations, and were Banda's most trusted bodyguards around Hastings Kamuzu Banda. Both the Malawi Army and Police resented the Pioneers for usurping their roles as security agents.

The MYP was established in 1963. Up to 1967, The Young Pioneers, The Green Shirts, were mainly concerned with rural development work and political indoctrination. MYP instructors were placed in every Secondary School where they provided basic military training to pupils. They were also responsible for identifying potential candidates who would then be dispatched to MYP bases for more training during the three-month school vacations between July and October each year. Over time this responsibility disintegrated into a 'spying' role where instructors 'informed' against fellow school teachers resulting in arrests & expulsions. They came to be viewed as advocates of rural development as far as young members of society were concerned. By 1989 there were MYP training bases in each of the 24 districts into which the country was then divided. Structured around the Kibbutz model of Israel, the instruction methodology in Training Bases sought to introduce self-sufficiency and industry through training of recruits in improved methods of agriculture & carpentry. Because of their development-oriented agenda, the MYP were initially supported by the nation, and international community, including the Israel Government that made available technical assistance in the form of Israel Army instructors. MYP graduates received scholarships from Malawi and foreign governments in Europe. Over time the MYP branched off into business, enabling MYP entrepreneurs to pursue their dreams. The Spearhead Company, an MYP business unit, was created and soon spread its influence, alongside Dr. Banda's Press Corporation Limited throughout Malawi's economy. At one time Spearhead operated their own fleet of aeroplanes, Spearhead Airlines. During the early days this enabled the MYP to discern themselves from the Youth Leaguers, The Red Shirts, arm of The Malawi Congress Party in that they kept a respectable distance from the political excesses involved.

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