Legislating new universities simple—Lawyer

Alegal mind has said it would take a maximum of two months to repeal the University of Malawi (Unima) Act and come up with different Acts for new universities if the idea to unbundle Unima is implemented.

Executive director of Justice Link, Justin Dzonzi, said in an interview on Friday that when the decision to unbundle is made, the process to legislate new universities is simple as it would only require repealing of the whole Unima Act.

Dzonzi was reacting to assumptions Nation on Sunday raised that legislation processes may prolong the move to unbundle Unima as it would mean repealing of the University of Malawi Act.

The legal practitioner said Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs would be required to oversee the whole process, and once the Unima Act is repealed, there would be several draft Acts prepared for each of the universities.

“I say the process is simple because I don’t think most of the functions of the individual universities would change,” Dzonzi said.

He said after everything is put in place, the minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs would take the pieces of legislation to Cabinet for approval and then to Parliament for enactment.

When Parliament passes the Bills, Dzonzi said, they would be taken to the President for assent. Dzonzi, however, argued that if Unima is split into four universities, it would mean creating four more problems for government in as far as funding is concerned.

“What we need, in my view, is for the colleges to be innovative for quality education. We had Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi [Escom], which was split to form another company, Electricity Generation Company [Egenco], are we not having blackouts?” Dzonzi asked.