AG moves to reclaim international schools

Attorney General (AG) Thabo Chakaka Nyirenda says government is seeking to reclaim ownership and management of all international private schools it previously managed through the now-defunct Designated Schools Board before 1999.

Following dissolution of the Designated Schools Board, the elite schools are currently managed by boards of trustees and include, Sir Harry Johnson in Zomba, St. Andrews and Hill View in Blantyre as well as Bishop Mackenzie in Lilongwe.

In an interview yesterday, Chakaka Nyirenda said the move to reclaim the schools in question is part of the assets recovery programme government has embarked on.

Last month, the Ministry of Local Government reclaimed four bus depots which were being run by Mulli Brothers Limited Group subsidiary National Bus Company following successful litigation by the Office of the Attorney General and the liquidator of the former State-owned Shire Bus Lines.

Chakaka-Nyirenda said his decision to reclaim designated schools follows a three-month investigation into how the schools were handed over to the boards of trustees.

The Attorney General has since joined a case in which some St. Andrews International Primary School parents obtained an injunction stopping the school’s trustees from executing their duties.

In his submission after joining the case, he told the High Court of Malawi sitting in Blantyre on Tuesday that legally the international primary school belongs to the Malawi Government.

But in their submission, the board of trustees through their lawyers Noel Chalamanda and Fred Chipembere dismissed the assertions that the school belongs to government.

Efforts to get immediate reactions from Sir Harry Johnson, Hill View and Bishop Mackenzie officials proved futile yesterday.

Sir Harry Johnson High School board chairperson Liveness Mwale asked for more time before commenting on the matter, saying she was in transit from Lilongwe to Zomba, while Hill View and Bishop Mackenzie official lines were not answered on several attempts.

Commenting on the matter, Civil Society Education Coalition executive director Benedicto Kondowe supported the move yesterday, saying his organisation previously raised concern over the ownership of the schools.

“So, the Attorney General’s decision makes more sense, because it seems there was irregularity in the acquisition of these schools,” he said.