‘Open Chanco now’ opposition MPs press govt: Chakwera says continued closure of Malawi colleges is ‘national tragedy’
Members of Parliament (MPs), mostly from the opposition, took government to task on Tuesday to act with urgency and seriousness and open Chancellor College in eastern city of Zomba, a constituent of the University of Malawi (Unima).
The Unima council postponed opening the college on March 20, 2017 for the first semester of the 2016/2017 academic year following a strike by the academic staff aimed at forcing the council to resolve salary disparities among staff of similar grades in its four constituent colleges of Chanco, The Malawi Polytechnic, Kamuzu College of Nursing and the College of Medicine (CoM).
The Students Union of Chancellor College (SUCC) recently held demonstrations and petitioned President Peter Mutharika, who is also Unima chancellor , to consider re-opening Chanco.
And in Parliament, standing on ‘maytters of urgent public importance’ MP Elias Chakweraof Dowa Ngala (Malawi Congress Party – MCP) asked Minister of Education, Science and Technology Emmanuel Fabiano to explain to the House what his ministry is doing about the continued closure of Chanco.
Fabiano pushed the blame to the ministry of labour and manpower development, saying the college is failing to open because of a labour matter.
In their contributions, MPs blamed Ministry of Education that instead of tackling the problem, the ministry is abdicating its responsibilities ad s pushing the blame to another ministry.
Leader of the Opposition in Parlaiment Lazarous Chakwera described the failure to open institution of higher learning for a long time as a “national tragedy”.
“Mr Speaker Sir, we wish to point out that the continued closure of our universities is distressing not only to our youths, but even to the parents who cannot wait any longer to see their wards graduate and start contributing to the development of this country,” said Chakwera in his response to President Peter Mutharika’s State of the Nation Addrtess.
“We note with amazement at the lukewarm approach Government has taken in most cases whenever there are disputes involving learners or lecturers in the tertiary institutions. This tendency makes us believe that this Government views university education as a luxury, which should not be the case for any country that seriously aspires to develop.
“We, therefore, strongly appeal to the Government and particularly the President himself to treat the issue of unnecessary closures of public universities as a national tragedy and move with speed to resolve it, open the universities, and ensure that they run uninterrupted academic calendars with guarantees of academic freedom,” Chakwera said.
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The issue of closure of chanco should not be left to these senseless people, i wonder why we as Malawians are too docile when wrong things are taking place, be mindful that this is a crop for future leadership of this country. I am concerned because my niece is one of the victims, i fear for her age, time is running out. If indeed we have a head of state who cares, he should replace university council members now, transfer all top management at university offices and bring on board fresh minds which will have the welfare of the students… Read more »
s hood way to save money.
as it is, chanco and poly are producing violant unprodutive hooligans rather than brilliant graduates. kamuzu would have collapsed of shock if he saw those drunkards. u all know what those sex pests do
its a pitty it is happening in our country, but under this administration of dpp its no surprise since Peter then the minister of education in Bingu’s administration failed to manage ministry of education having chanco closed for eight months he didn’t do a thing. wake up ppo… leadership its a skill, only kings are born but presidents are made. do something. ..
what i do not understand is why is everything in our Malawi associated with politics, why does this only happen in Malawi and not other countries, chilichonse ndale,why does the President have to do everything, all titles are in his name,kodi wopambana ndi President dziko lonseli,why cant we have a normal chancellor who will be able to accomplish his duties …. how can a University be closed for so long this is a shame and a national tragedy to our country and a very huge embarrassment.
Blame those who want to have everything in the name of lecturers they see no one but money to be a lecture does not mean you must buy 10 bread per day think your country as a lecture
Whatever the reasons, no sane person can continue to get paid for over two months for doing nothing. What a hameless bunch of lecturers!
School adakatsegula just get solutions osati poti ena adandaula ndiye zalowa ndale simukuona kuti pali vuto apaa?
School adakatsegula just get solutions osati poti ena adandaula ndiye zalowa ndale simukuona kuti pali vuto apaa?
But guys, politics aside, are you sure is this the way Malawi is going to run its tertiary level education? Just reflect what has been happening for the past 24 months; poly, mzuni, Malawi coll. Of Health Sciences and now Chancol closed. Are we serious as a nation. let us be honest, there is gross incompetence in those running these institutions. One solution: is it possible to remove the head of state as chancellor of the university because by putting him as chancellor things are not working because him is a politician and automatically politics sets in in whatever concerns… Read more »
i second this Partner!!!! 100% true.
The president of the republic of Malawi is not smart enough to be president of a country, let alone run a grocery store. This man has demonstrated ineptitude, lack of seriousness, very inhumane (he can’t empathize the pain that other people face), lack imagination and creativity. The Chanco issue is extremely simple. Invite to Sanjika the warring parties and discuss. The solution to this is too easy-few members of staff at CoM who have MBBS degree but specialized in epidemiology etc (thus they are not practicing doctors, unless they go work for some pvt clinic) get paid as if they… Read more »