Government abandons Tukombo Community College
Government has failed to roll out Tukombo Community College in Nkhata Bay because of politics at the district council and has since resolved to turn the old Nkhata Bay District Hospital into one.
Minister of Labour and Manpower Development, Henry Mussa, disclosed this on Tuesday in Lilongwe at a press conference when answering a question as to what government was doing about the Tukombo College which was failing to open its doors.
He was briefing the media on the preparations for the International Youth Day scheduled for August 29 in Nkhata Bay which is under the theme: “Eradicating poverty and achieving sustainable production and consumption.”
The Daily Times asked Mussa to explain the politics surrounding the college which saw the district council engaging two contractors one of whom is a husband to a cabinet minister. The construction work was poor and not fit for a college.
Mussa admitted that the project at Tukombo was surrounded by politics and that there was poor workmanship by the contractors. But he defended the engagement of the minister’s husband, arguing he was also a Malawian who is supposed to participate in the socio-economic development of the country.
“Tukombo to date is yet to open. It’s all politics. In the initial arrangement, we had one contractor and then later we asked Nkhata Bay District Council why there were two contractors. They said it was because of the motor vehicle course which needed some structure.
“But we discovered poor workmanship and that it was poorly located. Our original thinking was to have it at the centre of the district.
“The whole project is abandoned. The college is now going to be at the boma in the former premises of Nkhata Bay District Hospital,” he said.
Mussa said the group that enrolled with the college will not start until the new college is set up at the boma.
Community technical colleges are one of the major projects under President Peter Mutharika’s administration which he launched at Ngara Community Technical College in Karonga.
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