Malawi’s president professor Bingu Wa Mutharika has said university education is a right for all deserving students that wish to pursue higher education.
Mutharika was a speaking at his Ndata farm on Saturday during a ground breaking ceremony of the Malawi University of Science and Technology (MUST).
Speaking without his usual self confident pomp despite the heavy presence of his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) who kept on chanting: “Those against our leader shall not have peaceful sleep, shall not have peaceful sleep we will deal with them,” Mutharika said that the ground breaking ceremony was in line with his dream of establishing six universities in the country.
Mutharika who was also accompanied by the first lady Callista said that the construction of the university bat his Ndata farm was a way of donating needy Malawian students a worthwhile academic institute.
“This university is established under my initiative. I conceptualised the whole set up and even made some plans of the structures to be constructed, “he said.
He said the MK 2.7 billion university which is being bankrolled by the People’s Republic of China was his donation to the people of Malawi.
“This university is located at Ndata estate which I did not buy to make me profit but to assist Malawians, I am therefore donating 650 acre stretch of land to the people of Malawi for this university project, “he said.
He said among other programmes the university will be a centre of research for African medicine as well as HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis.
Speaking earlier minister of Education Science and Technology who has recently been heavily criticised by the opposition for failing to settle the stand of at the University of Malawi said he was aware that some individuals are negatively portraying the Malawian image to the world.
“As Malawians we need to promote the image of our country, however I am aware of some individuals that are promoting a negative image of our nation,” said the younger Mutharika.
Mutharika announced that his ministry will in the next sitting of the Malawi parliament present a bill for the council for Higher Education.
“The Council for Higher Education is to monitor and regulate higher education. It will regulate and review the education and assessment standards so that they are relevant to the country’s development trends,” he said.
Mutharika challenged the opposition that has been demanding his resignation saying problems in the Malawi education sector have been there for the past forty years.