Police disperse teachers preparing for Monday demos

There was commotion in Lilongwe this morning as police abruptly appeared at a meeting teachers were having at community centre ground to prepare for protests.

The law enforcers dispersed the teachers.

Police said that the teachers did not seek permission to hold demonstrations.

The teachers are demanding government to give them a Covid-19 risk allowance.

The one way Banja la Mtsogolo- Simama road to Lilongwe depot has since been closed by security personnel.

The teachers say they are frontline workers just like health workers and the police themselves who receive Covid-19 allowance.

Teachers Union of Malawi has told all teachers to stay away from work on Monday, the day schools are to open to force the government pay the teachers the covid-19 risk allowance.

Malawi will reopen schools on Monday five weeks after President Lazarus Chakwera suspended classes due to a surge in virus pandemic.

Malawi’s Presidential Task-Force on Covid-19 determined it is safe to resume classes after a drop in the rate of infection.

Co-Chairperson of the Presidential Task-Force on Covid-19 Khumbize Kandodo Chiponda said in a televised address Wednesday night the infection rate is at 16%, down from 30% in January, when classes were suspended.

However, Kandodo Chiponda, who is also minister of health, said some schools will require students to produce Covid-19-negative certificates to be allowed into class.

She asked parents to comply with such a requirement, saying the government has enough Covid-19 test kits in all public hospitals in the country.