Government to proceed with fee hike despite Parliament disapproval

Dec 05, 2015 Politics 71
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Samuel Tembenu Malawi Justice Minister

Parliament’s bill to suspend the fee hike in Universities and Secondary Schools was just a waste of tax payers’ time as the fee hike will still be implemented.

According to a law scholar, government cannot listen to Parliament on the hike as it does not have the mandate to suggest fees for education institutions.

Samuel Tembenu Malawi Justice Minister
Samuel Tembenu objected MPs’ demands

“The opposition were just trying to play cheap politics, but it is so sad that they had to do that at the expense of other equally important things that they could have discussed instead of passing bills that cannot be implemented,” said the scholar.

He indicated that the discussion on the fee hike was illegal and over-stretching its boundaries.

“The minister of Justice actually raised up this issue and it is strange how the Speaker accepted the issue to be debated when it was clear that they do not have the mandate to influence the fees of the institutions in question,” he said.

Minister of Justice Samuel Tembenu objected to Parliament discussing the issue of fee hike in Secondary and Tertiary institutions arguing that it did not fall within the mandate of Parliament. However Parliament went ahead to discuss the issue and suspend the hike.

When asked if government can go ahead to implement the fee hike despite its opposition from Parliament, the legal commentator said government was within its duties to implement the hike.

“Parliament actually did nothing than waste its time, so yes government can go ahead and implement the hike.”

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71 Comments

  2. Nosense and childish MP Gods spirit is not upon them no wonder their decisions are made out of being naive. Before the issue of fees they would have secrutinese the std of our Education and weigh the two. But in the absence of that surely they hv wasted our tax money. Hike or no hike no change. The same MP are busy kumagona ndi ana so angatani kuthandiza education in line with fees.

  5. This aint gud time to raise fee while economy z unstable;We as Govt shud hav waited till Economy recovers;Realy its a gud dcsion to do so but not nw!;Really w as malawians feel betrayd. wth dis act govt followed by letng w@ Mps dscusd in Parliament Useless

  8. we don’t need any parliament here in Malawi it’s just a waste of tax payers money parliament is just a fiasco not benefitting impoverished malawians

  9. ambuye bwerani nsanga Peter Muthalika atitha tonse kuno …….salary k70,000 , fees ya mwana k40,00 nkumakhalanso pa rent mmmmmm Peter Muthalika ganiza bwino chonde

  11. Lets differentiate gimmick politicians and genuine politicians those opposing the fees hike are doing so just to gain political appraisal from us malawians once thoseare voted into power they will also forget and will bring in that issue again coz thats one way thru which we can recover from this economic mess

    1. Bigman,do u thnk Malawi will/can recover her economic mess by letting a poor Malawian citizen in the remote village pay such fees? Do u kno by survey how many dropped out of xul when fee hiked fromk2500 to k5000? Thnk 2ce ths shud not be part of tgdhe solution.

    2. malawians we don,t love our friends who,re in the rural areas,am saying this bcoz most of us malawians we,re living below poverty line & for us to earn a living it,s vry complicated.just imagine if pple are failing to buy abag of fertiliser @ a price of k3,500,do u thnk they,ll manage to pay for a child who has been selected to public universities?before govt make there useless decisions,they,ve to seek views from pple who elected them to power.are you serious that a villager who brews kachaso can manage to pay k30,000 for a sec,xool student?may almighty father intervene on this coz,malawi is really in total mess.lets do investigations bfo we enact some of these bills.

  15. We as citizens have got problem.We wait for others to speak and do for us.We just stand aside and spectate worsening matters.

  19. To say that it was illegal for Parliament to debate the school fees hike is a mockery of democracy. The definition of democracy point out that it is a ‘GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE’; and these people are represented by their MPs in our case. Thus in our Parliament we have representatives of the people of Bwengu in Rumphi, Wenya in Chitipa, Njombwa in Kasungu, Ngabu in Chikhwawa etc.

    Therefore it is not illegal for these representatives of the people to discuss issues of national importance, such as the school fees hike. The Executive should not run the country as if it is a dictatorship. If we are indeed a democracy then Government must listen to the voice of the people.

  20. Govt has no money, which big and by any means it needs money .so where the pple get the money 4 fees hike … That’s useless govt with leaders claiming that they r educated but their duties clearly shows they are mbub….

  21. yah that is the way to go tikufuna quality education ife mwina aziphunzitsi azilandira pokwanira komanso munthawi yake

    1. mmmm Pasadi the issue here ist not about quality education …anthuwa ndiwokuba kale lonse lija samakweza motelemu buanj? …just wait and see if there will be an increment in teachers pay

  27. anthu wosamva ngati a Malawi sindidawaonepo padziko lapansi! Inu peter Muthalika adalephera kuyendetsa unduna wazamaphunziro mu ulamuliro wa BINGU ndiye mungati angathandizire kuti maphunziro ayende bwino? mudafera u prof ndiye mudziwe safuna kufanana nawo bola adaphunzira iwowo kudzera mu orphanage!

  30. Yeah, this is what the problem is with our constitution No one appears to pay attention to this key issue.

  34. Why government is doing like this and what is the duty of opposition now? Please my fellow Malawians this coming elections we should to take out these thieves.

  36. When people were failing to pay k3.00 as fz in primary xulz e gvt of Malawi unbond that to be free of charge, then e same son has managed to go to sec xul he is told to pay k40 000 should we say e parents have gain riches nw? Cme to our universities currently is k275 000 bt stil er are rumours that it wil be mo than this. Tsoka amhawi poti maphunziro atsikira kwa olemera.

    2. eeeish mavuto kwathu kuno …..kulakalaka kut azungu aja mwina atabweranso coz pano nde zafika poyipa2…….salary ndiyomwe ija sadakweze koma akufunanso tichotse pompo …..

    3. Malawi is governed by malawian constitution so u dont have authority to tell us what to do, we solve & takle ourselves any problem arise in our country.

    10. People do not be foolish….the zambians are our brothers. have you forgotten the original maravi kingdom was part of zambia too? Besides we are all African brothers, soon we must also unite.

    13. Prince is not here to compare these two neighboring countries but he is showing the good governance of our fellow leaders. if the issue of hiking the school fees has been implemented ,do you mean you are considering poor people? what do they do now ,obviously they will drop the institutions .Remember that 75% are living in poorest environment .

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