Candidate Announcement (MOHAMMED WAJID AKHTER) for Secretary General

Asalaam alaikum, if I am candid, my preference would be for fresh and youth leadership now. Renewal is a principle I have preached, and I do not believe any Secretary General should become indispensable. New voices, new energy, new perspectives are signs of organisational health and wealth.

Unfortunately, the curse of incumbency and other factors have meant that there are likely no other candidates standing even though many better than myself are there. It is understandable that I will be pushed to take further the changes we are embedding now, but I hope that the future will mean more candidates and more competition.

Where I have fallen short I owe an accounting before I ask for anything more.

I underestimated how long structural change takes in a 500-affiliate body built on consensus. I moved too slowly on some fronts and too quickly on others. Communications have been inconsistent. I have not yet built the volunteer pipeline I promised – the “dream team” is still half-assembled. Devolution to the regions has begun but is not embedded. Our digital and youth strategies have started, but remain works in progress.

These are my failures, not the team’s. I name them because trust is built on being honest. The earning of a degree of trust is what I hope is the main achievement of the last 18 months. Trust with affiliates who had grown cynical. Trust with scholars, with sister organisations, with grassroots leaders who long ago stopped believing the MCB represented them. Trust with a younger generation who needed to see that this body could still speak in their language.

If we are to turn trust into long term change, we will all need to get serious about supporting MCB – not just in words but in action and, critically, with funds. Unless everyone and every member who has high expectations of this organisation helps MCB escape the cycle of poverty, no matter what I say or do, nothing will really change.

Our community faces many challenges, from the inexorable rise of Islamophobia in our politics and on our streets to the outdated and broken methods that we are currently using to combat it. In the coming 2 years, I would hope to lead a team prioritising the boring parts of building the community infrastructure and power, we will say No much more often so that we can maintain focus and we will not be afraid to think different and act accordingly.