By Faith Kamtambe:
Malawi College of Health Sciences (MCHS) students on Monday stormed the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) for the second time, as part of efforts to force authorities to re-open the college.
The college was closed in October 2018 due to an industrial strike college staff organised. The Industrial Relations Court sitting in Lilongwe later dismissed the action.
The students were reacting to OPC’s response to their previous petition, after it asked the students to remain calm as stakeholders were working on resolving the issue.
In the petition the students delivered to Ministry of Health and Population officials on Monday, they pour cold water on OPC’s suggestion, saying delays in re-opening the institution are costing them dearly.
“We have been calm for long enough, from October 27 2018 to date, and are tired, since we now understand that, for us to be home, it is not because of the strike but [the issue is that] funding has not yet been provided to the institution,” reads part of the petition dated January 7 2019.
MCHS mother body president, Iso Ken Bond, said they have been at home for three months and cannot bear it anymore.
“We have received a response from OPC that management and OPC resolved their issues and now the problem is funding. Government is not funding our colleges and that is why they are not calling us back to school and that is why we are here; we want the government to respond,’’ he said.
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