Youth angry with stalled school project

Tom Sangala February 27, 2016

257 1 minute read

At least four years since youths initiated construction of Chibwana-Msamala Community Secondary School in the area of Traditional Authority Amidu in Balaka, the project has stalled at foundation level.

A youth committee in the area has been pestering authorities to explain why the project was delaying.

T/A Amidu Youth Clubs chairperson, who is also Balaka District Youth representative, James Juma, said the youth met with group village headmen in 2012 to reason with them on the need to have a secondary school in the area.

“The whole area of T/A Amidu doesn’t have a community secondary school so we agreed with the 26 GVHs that each one of them should mould 50 000 bricks for the construction of one at Chibwana-Msamala,” Juma said.

He said the proposal was forwarded to the full council meeting which agreed to commence the project.

“However, as soon as the project started it stopped within a month with rumours making rounds that the contractor was not paid despite the availability of resources,” Juma said.

Dennis Dziko, Area Development Committee (ADC) chair for T/A Amidu, said the ADC and Nkhadze Alive Youth Organisation (Nayorg) investigated the matter.

“We understand both local development fund (LDF) and constituency development fund (CDF) money was used for the project but nobody is coming out to say why the contractor was not paid,” Dziko said.

He said the project stopped at foundation level when 60 bags of cement had been used but most of the materials such as timber, iron sheets, paint, lime and 120 bags of cement were damaged.

Balaka council chairman, Patrick Botomani, said the project stopped because of the wrangle between GVHs on where the secondary school should be built. Everybody wanted it in his area.

“Initially, the school was supposed to be constructed at Mwima, which is centrally located, but for whatever reasons the project was shifted to Chibwana- Msamala,” Botomani said.

He said he would soon meet traditional leaders to solve the problem.

T/A Amidu bemoaned the number of girls failing to continue with secondary education in his area due to long distances they travel to go to school.

MP for the area, Ayami Mpaweni, said he mobilised CDF for the project which was used to purchase materials but due to the misunderstandings among the traditional leaders the project stalled.