Former minister of information, Moses Kunkuyu, has demanded that President Peter Mutharika should come out of his cocoon and provide definite answers to the controversy surrounding the fees hike currently rocking the University of Malawi.
Kunkuyu said yesterday that the intervention by the President will prevent a repeat of the ugly scenes of the academic freedom saga where his “unwarranted silence” as education minister saw the eight months closure of Chancellor College (Chanco).
The current stand-off has seen the police engaging in running battles with Chanco students where others have been arrested. The demonstrations also happened at the Polytechnic and Kamuzu College of Nursing.
The Chanco protest in Zomba also dented Malawi’s international image as the students closed the John Chilembwe Highway forcing Jill Biden, wife to US Vice President, Joe Biden, to seek refuge at the Eastern Region Police Headquarters.
Kunkuyu views the fee hike as not only inconsiderate but also careless saying it depicts government’s detachment from the current economic realities Malawians are enduring.
“The hike is ill-timed. An average Malawian parent cannot afford such fees, especially when the economy is seriously bleeding, riddled with continued rise in prices of goods and food crisis. The decision needed thorough consultative process and proper planning to avert the careless closures of our colleges.
“We remember Mutharika promised that the colleges would not be closed during his regime. What we have just seen is retrogressive and he must act now or dire consequences will follow our education system,” said Kunkuyu.
He also warned that the discontent might turn more chaotic as parents of the students, some of them working as public servants, are silently in support of their children in quest for a reduction of the proposed fees.
“This is different from other Unima sagas. Previously, parents could question their children why they are demonstrating but in this case, parents are aware that their children are fighting their [parents] battles because they cannot manage to pay for the fees and if this continues, they will make their support known since their children are also being tortured by the police,” he said.
The former information minister proposed measures that can ensure availability of funds towards university education.
“He [Mutharika] should consider halting the malata and cement subsidies and channel huge investments towards tertiary education. Why do we concentrate on subsidies that are usually politicised? For sure, if we make education subsidies, our graduates will be able to produce cement and malata right here and even export some. How do we turn the country into a producing and exporting one if we continue investing in areas that hardly add value to our economy?” wondered Kunkuyu.
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