By Pemphero Malimba:
The delegation of State Second Vice President Enock Chihana to champion the completion of Mombera University (Inkosi ya Makhosi M’mbelwa University) construction works has ignited hope for completion of the project among stakeholders, including Civil Society Education Coalition (Csec).
This comes after President Peter Mutharika delegated Chihana to the role through an announcement made by Chief Secretary Justin Saidi on Tuesday.
The statement says Mutharika has also delegated Vice President Jane Ansah to take charge of disaster management and prevention roles.
“In this capacity, he will work with the ministries responsible for Education, Finance, Transport and Public Works etc. Other delegations will be made as [the] need arises. The delegations are with immediate effect,” the statement reads.
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Csec Executive Director Benedicto Kondowe told The Daily Times that he had hope that Chihana’s delegation may help to address bottlenecks in the project.
“It [the delegation] gives conditional hope. Assigning a Vice President to champion the project raises its visibility and may help unblock bureaucratic delays,” Kondowe said.
He, however, said completion of the project would be defined by the availability of resources.
“But the real test will be whether this political commitment is matched with adequate financing, procurement discipline and a credible implementation plan. Without these, the delegation risks becoming symbolic rather than transformative,” he said.
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The education access advocate said the government needed to ensure a clear roadmap for implementing the project.
“To ensure the project finally materialises, the government must establish a realistic and fully funded implementation roadmap, strengthen transparency and accountability around financing, and ensure effective coordination among ministries, contractors and oversight institutions. Completion will only be assured when political commitment is aligned with resources, technical capacity and continuous public monitoring,” he said.
Mutharika launched project construction works in 2015 but the project stalled after the construction of access roads to the university site.
However, mid 2023, the Ministry of Education announced plans to embark on construction works, with the first phase planned to run from October 2023 to June 2025.
Speaking after touring the construction site in January last year, the-then minister of Education Madalitso Kambauwa Wirima said the university would embark on its first enrolment of 500 students in August 2025 after the completion of the first phase of the project.
According to Wirima, the first phase included construction of the basic sciences department alongside administration blocks, staff houses, male and female hostels, cafeterias, auditoriums and sports facilities.
The whole project was projected to cost K450 billion and see 10,000 students enrolled upon its completion in 2027.
However, enrolment did not take place as of August this year as the project was yet to be completed.
