Msaka hails Saudi Arabia’s Islamic Relief for developmental interventions in Malawi

Minister of Education, Science and Technology, Bright Msaka has hailed the Islamic Relief Organisation of Saudi Arabia for their contribution towards development in the country describing them as the country’s partners in development.

He made the remarks on Friday at Traditional Authority (TA) Bwananyambi in Mangochi during the official handover of nine mosques and 11 boreholes that the Islamic Relief have constructed and sunk in the area.

Msaka said government has always appreciated the Islamic Relief’s gesture and all the pledges that they have made in the areas of education, agriculture and health.

“We are very grateful for the developments that the Islamic Relief Organisation of Saudi Arabia have promised to initiate such as irrigation scheme, construction of schools, and clinics among other things,” the Minister said

Msaka pleaded with people in the area to take good care of the facilities and to avoid vandalism of any kind.

He said construction of schools in the area would help in making education accessible to everyone thereby reducing illiteracy levels.

Msaka took advantage of the event to warn Primary School Administration structures in the country against collecting money from parents saying primary school education is for free in the country.

“Primary schools should stop demanding money from parents because primary school education is free. When Primary School Authorities are demand money ask them as to where does government money which is allocated to you go? he advised them.

Islamic Relief Project Engineer for International Relief, Welfare and Development, Sheik Ibrahim Mher said it was their desire to lift up the lives of Malawians in the area and across the country by meeting their social needs, including food.

“There is plenty of water which remains underutilised in the area and we would like to venture into irrigation farming so that people should be harvesting more than once a year,” he explained.

Mher added: “We want to help government in uplifting the lives of Malawians by providing good services to the people; ignorance can best be fought if the community has people who are well educated and it is our wish to promote education in the country.”

TA Bwananyambi commended the Islamic Relief for constructing the mosques saying the initiative would strengthen Islamic faith in the area.

He thanked the country’s leadership for opening doors to the Islamic Relief to come into the country with the development initiatives.