LILONGWE: The President of the Republic of Malawi, His Excellence Dr. Lazarus Chakwera, continues to fortify his legacy as a champion for revamping a thriving education sector in the country following a number of policy implementations, infrastructure uplifting projects and systems structural adjustments, Shire Times observes.
Yesterday, the 17th of April 2024, the Malawi leader presided over a launch of Malawi School of Government (MSG) a restructured institution which has been formed by merging the Staff Development Institute (SDI) at Mpemba and the Malawi Institute of Management (MIM) at Kanengo in Lilongwe through the Malawi School of Government Act of 2022.
In his remarks, the Malawi leader reminisced the motive forces behind his administration’s idea to put in place a school of government by sharing the general objective underlying its establishment. The President narrated that when he took over leadership of this country, he discovered shortcomings in the way some public servants were carrying out their duties ranging from laxity to sheer incompetence.
The President discussed the challenge with different stakeholders both local and international and through such exploration he conceived the idea of establishing an institute that would heighten the role of orientating public servants and other government employees to the effective performance of duty that would be dynamic from time to time as impacted by contemporary demands.
“In two separate occasions last year, I met Mr. Richard Chandler, the founder of Chandler Institute of Governance. This is an institute which is reputed for building systems and practices that enhance excellence is national governance through practitioner-oriented programs and training. Initially, I met him during my official trip to BRICS Summit in South Africa, and thereafter in Saudi Arabia…
…During these meetings, I requested him to come in with his expertise in our dedicated undertaking to architect and nurture our own practitioner-oriented skills and expertise for a national workforce that delivers”, said the President in his remarks delivered in vernacular.
The Chandler Institute headed to the President’s plea and rendered its help, prompting the Malawi leader to express gratitude during the launch: “So I want to thank the representatives of the Chandler Institute of Governance who have joined us for this launch, and I want you to know that we do not take your support for granted”.
Verifying President Chakwera’s dedication for smooth running of the affairs of the institution, the MSG Director General, Asiyati Chiweza, mentioned in her speech during the launch that Government through the institution has cleared pension arrears worthy MK777 million, scaling the burden from K962 million to K185 million over the 17 months that it has been established.
Chiweza said over the same period, MSG has developed a strategic plan which focuses on full institutional integration, rebranding, financial sustainability, infrastructure development and human capital development.
President Chakwera has declared a mission to make Malawi a country fitting in the 21st century development trajectory while catching up on many areas that the country has remained behind. In that pursuit, President Chakwera has embarked on a relentless effort to resuscitate what was, under Peter Mutharika’s DPP becoming a dysfunctional state that unbelievably relegated education and its welfare to the peripherals.
It is on record that the former head of State, Peter Mutharika of DPP, reached a confused point of telling university students that he was not the solution to their problems. Mutharika conceded his lack of clue to handle students’ problems in November 2016 when, in his capacity then as Chancellor of public universities, he presided over the first congregation of the then newly instituted Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (Luanar). He was speaking in reference to unceremonious closure of some public universities and endless students’ strikes in support of academic staff members whose demands for better salaries fell on what appeared to be deaf Government ears.
Following such unfortunate remarks, students’ bodies from the then University of Malawi’s Polytechnic and Mzuzu University protested endlessly against Mutharika’s leadership inertness in the face of the challenges. Civil society organizations including Youth and Society (YAS) and the Civil Society Education Coalition (CSEC) intervened against the impasse by petitioning stakeholder public institutions such as the Malawi Human Rights Commission and the Parliament among others, calling on their constitutional mandates to intervene in the situation which was turning pathetic and deplorable.
The myriad of the challenges that the academic community was facing included lack of funding in public schools which led to shortages of perks for both academic and non-academic staff members in the public schools as well as unmet salary increase demands. The scenario led to some public universities such as Mzuzu University being shut down for over a month due to the impasse.
This was Peter Mutharika showcasing either his lack of cue on how to deal with the problems faced by the academic institutions or his lack of concerns over the same as similar impasse emerged during his tenure as Minister of Education in 2011 during his elder brother’s rule. The Chancellor College and the Polytechnic, two the constituent colleges of the University of Malawi (Unima) then, were briskly closed for close to four months over academic freedom which was under threat.
During that saga, the University Council under instructions from President Bingu wa Mutharika and the then Minister of Education, Peter Mutharika, fired lecturers such as Dr. Jessie Kabwila-Kapasula, Dr. Garton Kamchedzera, Franz Amin and Dr. Blessings Chinsinga were fired. The institution’s teaching staff union downed their tools demanding unconditional reinstatement of the fired lecturers and withdrawal of court cases that were commenced against them and several others.
Instead of stepping in to resolve the impasse, Peter Mutharika stepped in to crucify the lecturers, giving no consideration to the crisis that the public universities were going through for being unceremoniously closed four months straight.
President Chakwera has demonstrated himself as the exact antithesis of the Mutharika’s questionable leadership towards education sector and the country in general. Contrary, to Mutharika’s trivializing of education and plight of students in education institutions, President Chakwera has increased students’ upkeep in public universities twice since his becoming President in 2020, with the latest increments of 60% happening on 25 March this year.
The story is now different with President Chakwera. Reacting to the students’ allowance hike, the University of Malawi Students Union leader, Thanks Eliya Mwaluwanda, could not help but celebrate the President while reminding his fellow students about the President’s demonstrable passion for coming to the aid of the students and ensuring conducive learning environment.
