Amid public service delivery crises Malawians are going through and against calls for prioritised public spending as a way to fix some of these challenges, it has pleased the government to put K2.7 billion in a mausoleum for late politician Gwanda Chakuamba. Spent on health posts, that money would have catered for close to 50,000 people
BY Cathy Maulidi:
Government’s decision to spend K2.7 billion on a pet project of a mausoleum for late politician Gwanda Chakuamba who died in 2016 continues to get backlash on account of the challenges Malawians are grappling with.
One of such challenges is access to health services, which the government promised in 2020 to address through construction of 900 health posts within two years.
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Today, it has constructed only 135, with the projecting lagging due to funding challenges, among others.
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This regardless, government insists construction of the mausoleum is not the only thing it is doing.
“It has to be appreciated that despite the challenges that are facing as a country, the entirety of government machinery continues to function,” government spokesperson Moses Kunkuyu told Malawi News.
Government, through the Ministry of Local Government, Unity and Culture, wants to construct the mausoleum for Chakuamba in his village in Nsanje District.
It has issued an expression of intention to award the contract to PMC Limited.
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Following the notice published on November 4, Malawians and civil society organisations have expressed outrage.
While not discarding the project entirely, some of the citizens we have spoken with (see on page 4) have questioned the government’s priorities.
One of them, Brian Salingana from Dedza District, said the mausoleum serves no real purpose.
“It is disappointing to see the government spending so much money at this time,” he said. “These funds should be used to address critical issues like fuel shortages, the hunger crisis, fertiliser supplies and healthcare needs.”
He added: “The timing is poor, and the government has far more urgent matters to prioritise. Citizens need real solutions that improve their everyday lives, not costly monuments. We urge leaders to focus on pressing needs and make responsible choices for the country’s future.”
In 2020, President Lazarus Chakwera promised that his government would construct 900 health posts in hard-to-reach areas of the country as one way of achieving universal healthcare.
In a State of the National Address, Chakwera said the plan was to allow people access quality health care within a radius of five kilometres.
He had set the year 2022 to get the job done.
Malawi News has established that two years after the deadline, government has constructed only 135 health posts.
We have also gathered that each health post was budgeted at K250 million.
In addition, each of them would serve about 5,000 people.
At that cost, if the budget were to be constant, with K2.7 billion, government would construct about 11 posts which would have served roughly 55,000 people that are struggling to access universal healthcare.
Nicholas Mwisama, Executive Director for Transparency Initiative, has urged the government to be sensitive.
“This money could have helped alleviate the suffering of people in hard-to-reach areas,” he said.
He said, for example, Malawi’s healthcare system faces significant challenges, including shortages of medical personnel and equipment.
“In rural areas, residents often rely on traditional medicine due to lack of access to modern healthcare facilities.
“It is not just the health sector, but many other sectors such as the education that are suffering. If they got this type of prioritisation, Malawi would be somewhere by now,” Mwisama said.
He urged the government not to proceed with the project until later.
“If it goes ahead, it will be a clear sign to Malawians that it has lost direction.
“A household that lacks food and other basic needs cannot prioritise spending on tombstones unless the head of that household is captured with disease of the mind.
“Malawians are sleeping on floors of hospitals that don’t have drugs. People don’t have food, fertiliser and other basic needs. It would be prudent for the government to abandon this project.” Mwisama said.
Gift Trapence, chairperson for the Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC), equally expressed disappointment that government prefers putting money in a monument to pressing needs of the people currently.
“The timing is not good when millions of Malawians including the people in Nsanje itself and Chikwawa are suffering from hunger,” he said.
“Government should stop this project. Prioritising a monument over hunger crisis has no justification nor does it show reasonableness,” he said.
But government in unmoved.
According to Kunkuyu, the project comprises the mausoleum, a district library and houses for Chakuamba’s family members.
He said government appreciates the public concerns.
“Looking at the project from one angle of ‘Gwanda Chakuamba Mausoleum’ and the timing may validate the concerns but looking soberly at the totality of the project which includes a district library, access roads and houses may trigger different reactions,” Kunkuyu said.
He said government has not stopped everything else to concentrate on the mausoleum project.
“Roads, schools, hospitals and libraries are still being built countrywide. Singling out one for exclusion on the mere basis that it includes a mausoleum, may deprive the people of this community of Nsanje access to a good road, a district library and decent houses,” he said.
The notification of intention to award a contract does not indicate all the other structures that Kunkuyu highlighted.
