Forum query Madonna over $18 mil raised in the name of Malawi charity

Forum for National Development (FND), a local group,  has asked US pop star
Madonna to be accountable and explain the money she raised to build the academy for girls school in Malawi, which was abandoned.

In a statement made available to Nyasa Times by the organization on Friday and signed by FND National Coordinator, Fryson Chodzi, Chikumbutso Mtumodzi, and its chairperson Bright Kampaundi, FND says they have overwhelming evidence that Madonna realised such huge amount of money in the name of building the academy but the project flopped.

“We have come across compelling evidence that Madonna raised US$18 million (Equivalent to Malawi Kwacha 13.5billion) for the school although she went ahead not construct the school shuttering the many dreams of young girls in the surrounding
communities,”  the statement in part.

FND says they do know and have corroborated with former board members of her Raising Malawi charity that only US$8,659 (Mwk 6,494,250) went to the school project.

Madonna reportedly raised US$18million for the Malawi school project and, in 2010, she laid the first brick at a ceremony in full view of the global media.

But, in 2011, Raising Malawi announced that it was stopping construction of the school.

According to a Newsweek report from April 2011, US$3.8million (Mwk 2.85billion) had been spent on the project, but only US$850,000 (Mwk 637.5million) had gone towards  the work in Malawi.

The rest was spent by the Kabbalah Centre’s Office in Los Angeles,  United States of America.

“The Newsweek investigation corroborated our findings that only US$8,659 of the US$3.8million her Public Relations firm said was spent on the academy, was paid out in
Malawi,” the statement.

Madonna first came to Malawi in 2006 and after being touched with the high poverty levels, she pledged to use her personal money to change the lives of children especially the girlchild.

Since then Madonna has proposed mouth-watering projects and initiatives but only a few have materialized such as the construction of the paediatric ward in Blantyre.

“She is also yet to tell us the cost as well. We believe Madonna using her global fame, has raised a lot of money in the last 6 years for various projects in Malawi but as FND we believe we have a civic duty to question her motives and hold her accountable where
transparency is in short supply,” reads statement in part.

“As FND we commend her for the life changing initiatives on the lives of Malawian children she now lives with, but then again, we will not lose sight of the fact that she has used the same adoption as a means of propping up her global image,” the statement reads.

Demands

Meanwhile, FND has put forward demands that Madonna should do or else the organization will take unspecified action;

-Madonna and her Charity must account for US$18million which was raised to build the Girls Academy in Malawi.

-Madonna must justify how US$15million Girls Academy Project can be replaced with the US$300,000 project for the 10 school blocks under the Build On Project.

-Madonna and her Charity must account to what has happened to the 10 schools she claimed to have built.

-Madonna and Build On Project must justify how the purported 10 school blocks could cost US$300,000 when a cost of constructing one similar school block in Malawi is US$6,000 and total would be US$60,000. Where has the rest of the money (US$240,000) gone to?�

-Madonna and her Charity must account in terms of how much was raised and spent on the Hospital ward built at QUEENS.

-Madonna must explain what will happen to the girls that were promised to join the Girls Academy around the communities who gave up their land for the construction of the academy

-Madonna must account for every single dollar that has been raised over the last 6 years through her Raising Malawi as the charity continues to send appeals and collect donations.

-Madonna must apologies to Malawians for duping them on the real reasons for not continuing with the Girls Academy and must make effort to handover any unused money to the Government of Malawi in order for them to invest in the education system.

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