By Wezzie Gausi:
The government has terminated 51 contracts for contractors that were engaged to do construction works in the education sector.
According to the Ministry of Education, the 51 construction companies are all Malawian-owned.
Addressing the press in Lilongwe on Monday, Secretary for Education Mangani Katundu said the decision to terminate the contracts had been reached after the ministry noted that construction works had stalled.
“On each project, there are timelines that are given but most of these contractors failed to meet these timelines, thereby failing to meet the projects’ objectives.
“We managed to engage with all the companies and agreed that we part ways and, in other instances, we had to engage the expertise of the Attorney General. The termination of these contracts will actually help us to save some resources,” Katundu said.
On his part, Civil Society Education Coalition Executive Director Benedicto Kondowe said terminating 51 contracts due to project stalling suggested that project completion timelines were not met.
“However, the government must swiftly replace these contractors to avoid further delays, as prolonged disruptions could negatively impact educational infrastructure and access. Clear criteria for selecting new contractors, along with stringent monitoring, would be essential to preventing similar issues in the future,” Kondowe said.
These companies were working in the construction of hotels, laboratories, classrooms blocks, primary schools and other facilities.
The ministry has since issued another call for applications for the construction of infrastructure in the education sector.
