Will Chakwera deliver on the M’mbelwa University project now?
The joy that former president Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika planted in the hearts and minds of people living close to the project site for Inkosi ya Makosi M’mbelwa University in Mzimba had succumbed to feelings of illusion, betrayal and exploitation.
Certainly, you could not blame them! The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration initiated the Inkosi ya Makosi M’mbelwa University project – then Mombera University – to create space for more students to access higher education.
Mutharika laid the foundation stone for the project in 2015, only to abandon it without any explanation to Malawians.
What was more disheartening was the fact that the abandonment of the project came barely months after DPP Administrative Secretary, Francis Mphepo, had declared that the Mutharika administration would withdraw development projects in the Northern Region because “its people are ungrateful”.
Conversely, the Mutharika administration went ahead to recruit cadets as ghost workers for the varsity whose only structure then was an access road to the site. The ghost workers were in the categories of lecturers, support staff and ground labourers, among others.
According to Stanley Onjezani Kenani, these ‘ghosts worked for Mombera University since 2014’ without the knowledge of taxpaying Malawians.
It was not surprising, therefore, that when the news was announced that the construction of the university would start in January 2024, community members such as Benjamin Chirwa could not believe it.
“We thought it was just another fake news,” said Chirwa who comes from Chikwa Village in the Area of Traditional Authority M’mbelwa in Mzimba. “Honestly speaking, the abandonment of this project shocked us. We felt betrayed and exploited.”
But speaking after touring the project site on Monday, the Minister of Education, Madalitso Kambauwa Wirima, assured Chirwa and other community members that the incumbent administration is committed to ensuring that the project comes to fruition.
Wirima stated that President Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera is determined to ensure that the project is completed on time to enable students from across the country to access higher education at the institution.
The minister disclosed that the varsity will enroll its first intake in June 2024.
“The whole project will cost MK450 billion while the first phase will cost us MK150 billion,” said Wirima, adding that the institution will accommodate 10, 000.
In October 2023, the Ministry of Education awarded contracts to Paramount Holdings Limited (PHL) and DEC Construction to construct girls’ and boys’ hostels, respectively.
The contractors have already started working on the site.
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