Lazarus Chakwera to be installed Must Chancellor today
President Lazarus Chakwera is today being installed Chancellor of Malawi University of Science and Technology (Must).
A statement, which Secretary to the President and Cabinet Zanga-Zanga Chikhosi has signed, indicates that, later, the President will preside over the second congregation of the university.
“His Excellency Dr Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera, President of the Republic of Malawi, will be installed Chancellor of Malawi University of Science and Technology and will preside over the university’s second congregation at Must campus in Thyolo District,” the statement reads.
Chakwera has also been installed as chancellor and presided over graduations of Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Mzuzu University and the unbundled University of Malawi students.
Critics fault Chakwera for accepting the chancellorships, saying it goes contrary to his campaign promise that, as part of limiting the President’s powers, he would not be chancellor of the country’s public universities.
But, through spokesperson Brian Banda, Chakwera— at one of the many State House press briefings—said he was waiting for the laws which give him the chancellorship to be amended before stepping down.
“You should also bear in mind that there are graduates who have to graduate and we cannot keep them waiting because the President does not want to be chancellor. He has accepted the chancellorship simply to let these graduates go and the moment the laws are amended he will cease to be chancellor,” he said.
