Poly students let down by Mutharika: ‘We wonder if he knows about Poly’s existence’

Nov 15, 2016 Politics 77
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University of Malawi

Malawi Polytechnic students say they feel let down by President Peter Mutharika’s inaction over the continued closure of the college and have wondered if the president is aware of the institution’s existence.

In a statement released by the Polytechnic Students Union (PSU) on Monday, the students expressed worry over the silence of Mutharika and Minister of Education Dr. Emmanuel Fabiano on the standoff.

University of Malawi Polytechnic
Students from Poly make a public outcry.

According to the students, they thought Mutharika who is the Chancellor of University of Malawi (Unima) would make sure that such woes across colleges in the country should be a thing of the past considering that he is the champion of higher education across Africa.

The statement proceeds that when Mutharika ascended to office in 2014, ambitious young Malawians were overwhelmed with bliss knowing that an academician, who understands best how universities should operate having previously served as Ministry of Education and having been a tutor at one of the most prestigious Universities in the United States of America would head them.

“However, four months down this thorny path, the chancellor has uttered no single word on the matter, to the extent that we tend to wonder if he is even aware of the existence of a University called Polytechnic,” Reads part of the statement.

“The PSU kindly requests the chancellor to intervene in this stalemate. He needs to realise that the scholars of these closed college are not just youngsters, but ambitious individuals who solely rely on education to break through the chains of poverty gripping Mother Malawi by her throat,” adds the statement.

Peter Mutharika- UN
Peter Mutharika: Has been slammed by the Students over his silence over the matter.

The PSU also expressed surprise that Fabiano has not taken any action so far even though he admitted that University Councils in the country are failing to run the public universities.

The PSU however acknowledged that the Chancellor (Mutharika) is the only hope to save thousands of young Malawians who are just wasting away time at home as if they have nothing to contribute to the development of this country.

According to the statement, the delay has had effects on the students as they are being denied access to education as stipulated in Section 25 of the constitution of the country that every Malawian has a right to education.

The statement adds that despite the closure, the college is incurring costs on a daily basis which is a serious concern considering the current economic hardships.

“It is even more worrying, for an economically handicapped nation to be losing millions of Kwachas instead of utilising the little resources wisely,” reads the statement.

The Polytechnic was set to open on 10th October, 2016 but the opening was deferred after the students obtained an injunction to stop the college from implementing a fees hike during the current academic year.

The Polytechnic administration claimed that PSU and the Unima Council needed to sort out the fees hike matter before the college could be opened.

Apart from Polytechnic, three other public colleges are also closed but Mutharika is not intervening on the matter. The colleges that are also closed are Mzuzu University, Natural Resources College and Malawi College of Health Sciences.

Meanwhile, union leaders of the closed colleges will meet today to strategize on the way forward.

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77 Comments

  1. Poly mtudzu won’t help you. 4 years degree=20years, sickening! Our future leaders resisting to change, what a shame!! Engineering is not easy and it’s superb. It is too involving hence not cheap. Book engineers are a cause of our ever economic dependency 50 years down the line from independence. Someone big, respected professor with vast knowledge of what constitute quality education is with us right now, but we don’t want to listen to his wise saying. The chief problem is Africans are well known for their fear of unknown hence not risk takers. If they try to build a mansion at home village they would always be late down by fear of being bewitched. How could such thinking individual dare risking trying his invention? Interesting, isn’t it? For the world to enjoy aero planes it took some brave risk takers to ride a variety of floating machines with some losing their lives until there reached the era of Wright brothers. We cherish other reforms, but oops! We don’t want change. People were criticizing Bingu and labeled him a bad economist because of his resistance to devaluation. When JB effected devaluation the very same people were up roaring her for vanquishing Great Bingu’s adamancy. I doubt if they knew the pros and cons of it. The prices soared high to roof tops needing someone to carry huge notes of k1000s to purchase a fridge or a laptop etc. This means the central bank had to make lots of them to be enough for every Jim and Jack. To avoid over expenditure in making these useless bank notes they had to come up with a new bank note of higher value. On the other side the kwacha has been falling and you don’t want fees to rise, but remain the same while the lecturers are crying for pay hike. This is stupid thinking, isn’t it? Interestingly the so called educated who are undergraduates and their pompous economists in the class of Munthali are blaming APM for the hike and introduction of k2000 note. I’m sure Mr Munthali is the product of Poly or Chanco. Advisors from our bragging varsities are a time ticking bomb. They tend to mislead people and I really doubt if they ever know the truth about something. Instability of our kwacha is mainly attributed to our liberal market, and this is the fact, not the over expenditure thing this UNIMA product is telling us. In Kamuzu’s era commodity prices were set by government and with the coming of multiparty there are so many players who act behind the scenes and government has no say, if it dares autocratic grammar will be used. Poly you must know that you’re our hope, our great people, our engineers, well conversant with our local resources. As someone already said, “matama sakuthandizani.”

  2. Anthu awa ndi mbuzi zotheratu. Amzawo ena ali pa ma scholarship kulipiriridwa ndi mabungwe akunja andalama zankhaninkhani ndi anthu olemera kwambiri achina Bilu Getsi koma ati iwowo sakufuna kuti UNIMA izikhala ndi ndalama zidzangolowa nthumba. Anthu awa ndiotopetsa mbuli zotha ntchito. PSU apatu zikuoneka kuti alipo akukutumani. Nanga fees yolipira a HEST ndi yoipitira kukhoti kuti azilipira zochepa? Nanga Bilu Getsi ndiwompitira ku khothi kuti amuchotsere fees, m’malo mwa k400000 amuchotsere kuti azilipira k55000. Is there any logic here? Inunso matama anu ndiomvetsa chisoni ndizitsiru zimzanu za PP ndi Kongilesi ndi mbuli zina za ATUMBUKA zikukukhalirani kumbuyozo. This is suicide and you don’t wish our education well. You tools of political abuse. Savages! Lero ndiye APM wafunika? Ngati council sikukuthandizani bwererani kukhothi. Matama basi, ndife amzeru our president is a fake professor, koma chonsecho ndi ka bachelors komwe ulibe. Who are you bragging for UNIMA and yet you’re useless. After your school all what you know is talk, talk, talk, politics and embezzlement of public confers and some run away to foreign land. Ndiye ma lecturers anuwo pay hike izichokera kuti poti mukusekereza anthu akufuna kwabwino kuti asalipire fees molingana ndi m’mene kwacha yagwera. Masukulu awa mungowapanga Privatize asamatinyanse.

  3. Government institutions ndi amatama ati chifukwa chancellor wao ndi head of state. Lets have a look at poly, do they have modern labs for engineering courses? The answer is NO! The only mchanical engineering lab they have is a donation built in 1960s by the people of USA. The quality of engineers produced by this college are book engineers who know nothing, but theory no wonder frequent blackout, water shortages because they can’t apply. Someone well conversant with quality education is trying to tell us what it takes to achieve this quality, but we are all fighting him. If we are resisting to contribute to our own education inorder to come up with hightech labs built by our own contributions, to produce high quality engineers, which donor is going to do that for us? Mind you these students are going to be leaders in various potifolios, if they are fighting for fee hike to make our education highly quality, are they going to push it to greater hight? Very doubtful. Ana apoly matama sakuthandizani, try to think critically before doing any action. Your lecturers are also planning a salary pay hike strike and yet we are in zero aid budget. Where is the money going to come from if you want to go for free education which is yielding dull engineers who fail to compete in the world? UNIMA council is the one to deal with your problem that’s what they are paid for.

  4. Government institutions are always a cause of worry in African democracy. They are frequently abused by political foes. Whenever they fail elections they start ganging up their proponents to unleash hell through pay hike strikes. They even use private media outlets hiding behind press freedom to do their damage. The only smart opposition party in Africa was DPP i.e. after the death of Bingu. In parliament it didn’t fight Tembo for the leader of the opposition nor did it fight JB in parliament and everything was smooth. Almost all private media outlets were against DPP including diplomats, but people proved them wrong. JB failed to deliver because of her pompous and lack of experience and APM outsmarts this beleaguered leader, but her supporters still do not accept this reality. It’s strange to note how these little brats behave. Their fellas in World War I volunteered for the good course of their countries. They piloted newly built warplanes, a rare trend in African democracy where everyone is self centered and the students are used for auto-destruction by greedy, selfish political leaders. This is our Malawi and the onus to build it lies in our hands more especially the youth. What Mzuni and MCHS are doing is to frustrate government’s efforts on civil service reforms where those with same qualification are supposed to get the same salary pay. It’s startling to see engineering students in commotion for things they have projects on. Are they really going to solve our problems? Everyone knows that nowadays the world is bombarded with climatic change that brings about weather pattern changes. It is the duty of engineers to come up with workable solutions instead of joining the small brains cursing and blaming politicians. If you don’t know an engineer is a great person than all. Those mighty successful western countries are thus because their engineers work round the clock solving problems of things affecting them. Their science is just marvelous and they don’t have time for blame game. Everyone know his duty, unlike in Africa where everybody after getting frustrated with their work they either become a politician or a journalist, the likes of Ntata and Danwood, etc.

  6. Zikolathu lasokonekela mmalo mokomzedwa zinthu zingoipilabe zizakhala bwino liti where is the voice of opposition leader nanga amabungwe kodi mumadikila zifikiretu pa zero Malawi wamawa azakhala bwanji,?????????? Shame to professor bola mbutuma

  7. You and your parents voted for this mess, u were praising him just because he is well educated, a professor, you are the ones saying ”we need intelligent people like Peter not illiterate people like Muluzi” , you forgot that having more papers of education doesn’t mean that you have a gift of leadership, being a good Leader its a natural gift from God, you lead the people with wisdom from God not your knowledge you took it from the University, now everything seems to be bad just because you had too much pride on other people, u called them mbuli!

  10. A professor who doesnt know the importance of universities or education at large. He isnt interested to produce other professors but for him and him only is just enough! Is this not a jerousy concellor! Didnt he do the same when a minster in his brother’s govt!? Malawian are paying for the 2014 choice!

  11. almost all the colleges under government ar facin hard times,,,,,we all in the #world_of_sh** ena ndiife angotikhqzika pakhomo zoti atsekula lit xool sizuzika,,,eish ,,,,,,ndikumpajee2 ,,,,,

    sitinati we will keep on facin hard until we get uzed to “em

  18. Munthu uyu is mmalawi amalawi muzimuona! pa chilakhulo timalakhula samamva chilichonse nchifukwa chake amatenga nthawi kuyakha kulila kwa amalawi komanso kuyakha zosiyana ndi khani kusonyeza kuti samamva cHili chonse amadikila wina amuze kuti amalawi akulila tiyeni amalawi tivote mmalawi VOTE ikubwelayi tisavotele chipani

  22. I already spoken about this Man’s ambitions and even now I say that this is not the wright man for presidency post in Malawi and at DPP.
    Inside DPP there are unique, idle brains far more better than this so called professor of education not professor of leadership.
    Malawians will woke up that Malawi is on sale, catch my words.

  24. Ana aku poly simufuna xul bakhalani chomcho pozamaliza kukapeza ma resignation letter akudikirani maoffice cz muzakhala mutakalamba kale mwayi wavep simudzawuona

  26. So academic freedom yake ndye ili pat??? Mr President, palibe chamnzeru chimene mukupanga!!! education is de key 2 success, so hw can it be a key 2 success ngat mukukanika kuyendetsa dziko?????

  30. Ma students kunzimva kwambiri,makani ad a result mumalimbana nawowo zawo zinayera mumavutika nokha . mumafuna muzinjoya Ku school moti mungopitirako kuphunzira muzanjoye mukayamba job,musova

    3. And i think u dont kno the root of wat we r discussing here, unamva kuti ophunzilawo aphwanya college yake iti? ndimayesa ndima lecture akufuna salary adjustment boma lakhala likuwaimba 4so long? kumafufuza kaye b4 u raise up ur comment

    7. ine sinafike kuma college koma ndimaphunzira boarding xul guys ngati kusecondary zinkavuta pofika poyambana ndi ahead kunyanyala mukalasi kamba ka nsima kuli bwanji sukulu zaukachenjede…mwina inu munathela std5 ndesimuziwa kuti zinthu zimakhala bwanji kuti mwana waxul atuluse mawu/mukwiyo…ngati simunamvese nkhani tangowelengani macomment aanthu mutha kumvesa.

  38. It was very shame to here him at UNGA 2016, tell His friends to invest in education, but he is failing to deal with issues affecting education sector, no wonder now he is doing nothing, if we remember when he was a minister of education during his brother administration he failed to solve issues at Chanco, and it was his brother dealing with it. Guys tisavutike naye uyu alibe polobulemu,.

  39. anzanu kundirande apanga egini ya galimoto koma sanapite ku poly koma amene muli ku poly lero makani basi ndiye mumaganiza kuti ndani angakunyengeleleni mukulephera kukonza mapayipi ophulika kuschool yanu yomwe

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  49. Komatu kunena zoona zinthu sizikuyenda mdziko muno, zamadzi ndi magetsi zili apo, koma ma university wa akuti nawo bwanji? Mzuzu University, Polytechnic, Health Sciences, just to mention afew ophunzila ali mmakwao eeish! Malawi uyu, ntchito koma kukangana ndi atolankhani basi? Choncho ndikumati ayi tikufuna Malawi akhale owala? tsogolo lilipati apa? Mxiewwwwww

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