1. Posted on Thursday 11 February 2010 - 13:40

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   madalitso

   

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   Madalitso Kateta, AfricaNews reporter in Blantyre, Malawi

   Madonna is to compensate the local people of Chinkhota village of Malawi with £70,000 after their houses were destroyed to make room for her Raising Malawi Academy for girls.

   

   The £9 million school project that has started to take shape made 200 villagers loose their land, according to AfricaNews reporter.
   
   However villagers that were evacuated are not happy with the money they are being offered as compensation. One of them Amos Mkuyu, said he was given just 200,000 Malawi Kwacha (£850) for three hectares of land, mango trees and three dwellings.
   
   “My sisters and I inherited this land from our parents, whose parents have been here for over a hundred years. How can I get only K200, 000 (850 pounds),” the Daily Express quoted Mkuyu.
   
   However, the District Commissioner, Charles Kalemba, recently told the villagers in Chinkhota where the school is being built that government allowed them to occupy the land because there was no project for the area.
   
   “Now that Madonna wants to build you a school you have to give way. This school is the future of our children,” he said.
   
   Village head man Binson Chinkhota said: “We have been compensated and this school is a pride for us as it is the future of our children.”
   
   Anjimile Mtila-Oponyo, the school’s principal-designate, added: “We stalled for some months because of the land dispute. We are now in full swing and set to meet the 2011 deadline.”
   
   The school consists of 46 hectares and will have a library and administration building, dining hall, gymnasium, wellness center, sports field, 30 classrooms, 12 dormitories and 18 staff houses.
   
   The design was centered around optimizing natural day lighting and ventilation to minimize energy use and take advantage of the natural site conditions.

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Reactions

1. Posted on Thursday 11 February 2010 15:06

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   Kemo

   

   Kemo Cham
   314 berichten
   Lid sinds October 2009

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   Africa isn't that tight to make difficult to have space to build whatever we want under the sun...I find it difficult to understand what would warrant the government of Malawi to force innocent civilians to unwillingly abandon their lands for such insulting amount of money.
   “My sisters and I inherited this land from our parents, whose parents have been here for over a hundred years. How can I get only K200, 000 (850 pounds),” the Daily Express quoted Mkuyu.
   850 pounds? That is rediculous!
   God save the souls of those government people who masterminded this...
   Kemo Cham

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   Kemo Cham

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2. Posted on Thursday 11 February 2010 16:19

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   skuderjay

   

   
   1 berichten
   Lid sinds February 2010

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   what about the boys? why is the school only for girls? how can they pick and choose
   which futures they want to support? children are children.

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