Student forced out of Mzuzu school over gay claims

A student and a cook were pressured to withdraw from Mzuzu Government Secondary School when authorities suspected they were homosexuals.

The two were implicated in gay web reportedly sprawling at the school.

The school’s deputy head teacher Fides Msowoya summoned the Form Four boy (name withheld because he is a minor) and asked him about the allegations that he was having sexual relationships with fellow boys.

Msowoya advised the student that homosexual is a sin and the school cannot allow him to be “promoting a sinful lifestyle”.

He was kicked out for being gay but was not open about it.

The student left the school and spoke to Nyasa Times that “it’s ridiculous that in this day and age to be excluded from your own school for being gay.”

School Gilbert Nyasulu has also been kicked out over allegations that he entices the schoolboys into sexual relationships with promises of better food.

The cook has a wife and children.

The gay claims were not verified.

The development comes after Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Samuel Tembenu reaffirmed government decision to halt the arrest and prosecution of gay citizens while lawmakers review existing anti-gay laws.

Rights groups Human Rights Watch and the Centre for the Development of the People praised the Malawian government for upholding its 2012 commitment, after prosecutors dropped charges against a same-sex couple.

The rights groups said two men were detained by a neighborhood watch team, who turned them over to police. The men were forced to undergo medical tests and charged with sodomy.

This was the first arrest since 2009, when a gay couple was jailed and pardoned a year later.