Chakwera faulted on public ’varsity councils
President Lazarus Chakwera has come under criticism from the Civil Society Education Coalition (Csec) for remaining Chancellor of three newly created public universities, saying he should have delegated the role.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, Csec executive director Benedicto Kondowe and board chairperson Limbani Nsapato also faulted Chakwera for allegedly flouting procedures in the appointment of council members for the public universities.
But in interview on Tuesday, University of Malawi (Unima) registrar Benedicto Okomaatani Malunga, speaking in his capacity as someone with vast experience in university management, said the council appointments must be in line with the various university Acts.
He said: “It does not fall into management. The Comptroller of Statutory Corporations in consultation with the Ministry of Education looks at Acts of the universities when selecting who should be in the council.
“Each one of these universities has own Acts, even these newly formed universities, so composition of these councils must be in line with the Acts.”
Malunga stressed that if appointments are contrary to what the Acts say, they are irregular.
Csec’s statement said Chakwera should have appointed another Chancellor as the position is demanding, more especially, that he already holds the same position for other public universities.
Reads the statement in part: “While the competency of [Chakwera] is undoubtedly indisputable, we are however of the view that it should have been more efficient for [him] to allow another person as Chancellor given how demanding the position is.”
On May 4, Unima was unbundled and effectively created three public universities, namely Unima comprising Chancellor College as its main campus, Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences (Mubas)—formerly The Polytechnic under Unima—and Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (Kuhes) which combined previous Unima constituent colleges of Kamuzu College of Nursing and the College of Medicine.
The Acts establishing public universities designate the President as Chancellor. Besides the three new universities, Malawi also boasts three other functional public universities in Mzuzu University (Mzuni), Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (Luanar) and Malawi University of Science and Technology (Must).
Following the unbundling process, Secretary to the President and Cabinet ZangaZanga Chikhosi on July 20 announced that Chakwera has appointed council members of the three universities.
While stressing that the appointments were long overdue, Csec said in its statement that the appointment of Luanar vice-chancellor Professor George Kanyama Phiri as chairperson for Mubas council was faulty.
Csec said the appointment raised questions of legitimacy and conflict of interest given that both Luanar and Mubas are public universities; hence, contradicting the public sector reforms philosophy.
Apart from Luanar, Chakwera was also installed Chancellor of Mzuni, Must and the old Unima.
