Millions of Kwacha lost in material for Lilongwe LDF projects

Millions of kwacha in building materials for school blocks at M’buka Primary School, south of Lilongwe City, have been wasted for over staying without being used since they were bought over a year ago.

Over 400 bags of cement and several tins of paint wasted - pix by LINA
Over 400 bags of cement and several tins of paint wasted – pix by LINA
Unfinished classroom block at M'buka in Lilongwe - pic by LINA
Unfinished classroom block at M’buka in Lilongwe – pic by LINA

Over four hundred bags of cement, several tins of paint meant for construction of two school blocks at the school funded by Local Development Fund (LDF) have expired yet the school blocks are uncompleted.

In an email response to Lilongwe News Agency (LINA), the city, through their spokesperson, Tamara Chafunya, claimed they failed to finish construction of the school blocks because of lack of enough funds because of additional blocks but she promised that work would resume soon to finish the school blocks.

“At that particular time we had on paper an indication that the funding was adequate , until the additional blocks that made us realize that there was miscalculation of the funds,” Chafunya explained.

The city did not disclose how much money they received from LDF and who miscalculated, the city or the Local Development Fund secretariat.

Approximately 30 Million Kwacha has been spent on the two school blocks, costing around 15 Million Kwacha each but still flooring, plastering and painting are some of the works not yet done.

The School Committee Chairman for M’buka Primary School, Peter Banda, explained in an interview with LINA that the community is not happy with the way the whole project was carried out.

“We were told by the city that a school block was to be built here at our school, complete with its latrines and a storeroom. A few days later, the city engineer, a Mr Khotopo came with someone and told us that he was the contractor for the project. Within a few days the contractor brought building materials in bulk even before he had built the said storeroom but told us to set aside one classroom to store the materials pushing learners to conduct classes outside, under a tree,” Banda recounts the way the project began.

The first block started being built in January, 2014 and was expected to be completed by March or early April, 2014 but over a year and half now, it is still unfinished.

“A surprise came when six months later, in June, the city people came back and told us that Government had considered building another school block at the school. They were doing this when the first block had failed to be finished within targeted period.”

They brought another contractor, the chairman said, and a school block which started in June and was supposed to be completed on 31st August, is also not finished up to now.

LDF Technical support office, which is Local Development Fund secretariat, when contacted through their Head Development Communications Unit, Booker Matemvu, asked for a questionnaire but did not respond to it despite several reminders sent to him.

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Kelvin
Kelvin
8 years ago

Ntchito za political engineer zonse izi so many schools remember mpaka pano nzosamaliza

Zoona zenizeni
Zoona zenizeni
8 years ago

Pano tima contractor ta anthu tili busy kuti pula za LDF.That’s is a very disorganised country so called Malawi.Nobody cares about the future generation learning under the tree in the year 2015 as longer as his pockets are fat,This is cashgate taking place at LDF.Everybody wants to have big cars and build mansions in a wrong way.

Mabvuto
Mabvuto
8 years ago

EVEN AT LDF HOME BASE THERE ARE MANY THIEVES AND DRIVING VERY EXPENSIVE CARS BEYOND WHAT THEY RECIEVE AS A SALARY. THEY HAVE BUILT MANY HOUSES IN AREA 47 NDALAMA ZAKUBA AND YET PEOPLE ONLY TALK ABOUT CAPITAL HILL CASH GATE.

The real ujeni
The real ujeni
8 years ago

Cashgate, this is how people masquerading as contractors when in actual fact it is a briefcase company, good example is Savala, Karonga and many other dubious contractors. What they do is get the big cheque in advance, each one gets a cut, buy some building materials just to blind people or dupe people that you’re a serious contractor then start playing delaying tactics until everything stalls and die a natural death. This I typical of failed states in third world countries who have no clue of what development is or serious about it. Musova, mavotavota

OBSERVER
8 years ago

WHAT A SILLY RESPONSE FROM LCC. THIS ISSUE NEEDS PROBING. LET THE COMMUNITY BE HELPED.

hey
hey
8 years ago

Mumamaliza Kaye nyumba zanu. Honestly if this was money from your pockets mukanatelo? Children are learning under trees and inu mkumatelo. Or else its another cover up. Mwasololapo then kotsalako kuzisiya cholinga ma records awonetse kuti katundu anaonongeka. Malawi needs reform indeed. Reform ya deliverance. Pathetic. Choncho basi muzipemphananso chithandizo.

Jimbo
Jimbo
8 years ago

No surprise there. Typical Malawi mismanagement. When are officials going to get their act together and get organised. No wonder the country is so backward and underdeveloped. I have even known the bank in Mzuzu to run out of cash!! We had to wait while they sent to Blantyre for more. What is it about Malawians that they seem utterly incapable of planning and organising for the future. Even so called ‘educated’ people seem unable to think and plan for the future. No progress will be made until this problem is sorted.

Tchutchu
8 years ago

Ndamva ngati kuti katundu was delivered but construction was not being done. what it means the officers at the city were more interested in the purchases where the might have inflated the costs through the suppliers. They drew fat envelops from suppliers of the materials. a NAO ndiye mudikiranji apa osangoyambapo ntchito yanu. Katangale odadutsa apa. Ndipo katundu wambiri anamangira nyumba zao.

Peter
Peter
8 years ago

Pepani

cashgate1
cashgate1
8 years ago

Malawi don’t need democracy to develop. Dictatorship may be the way forward

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