Govt wants report on unbundling of Unima

Government has asked University of Malawi (Unima) Council and four colleges under it to provide a report on how they intend to tackle the issue of unbundling the university, Nation on Sunday has established.

The government’s move, according to sources close to the process, is part of the move to take on board findings of the Public Service Reforms Commission, which presented its report to President Peter Mutharika last month.

The sources disclosed that officials at Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, accompanied by their minister Emmanuel Fabiano, met Unima Council and the University management in Lilongwe on Monday, where the issue of unbundling Unima was discussed at length.

“The University senate and management have been given a task to provide a report to the council by mid next week on the process of unbundling, and the ministry intends to present the report to the President [Mutharika] by April 30.

“The meeting was also attended by principals from all the four colleges [Chancellor College, The Polytechnic, College of Medicine and Kamuzu College of Nursing] who welcomed government’s direction,” said one of the sources.

Unima registrar Benedicto Malunga, in response to a questionnaire on Friday, confirmed the Lilongwe meeting, explaining that Fabiano made it categorically clear that government had not taken any stand yet on whether to unbundle or retain the current status.

“Instead, it [government] is listening to arguments for or against each position. That is why at the meeting both parties to the matter were making cases on the pros and cons of either retaining the status quo or unbundling.

“Both Unima and government appreciate that this is a complex matter which involves multiple stakeholders and should, therefore, be handled with caution,” said Malunga.

He said the council and the colleges were advised to come up with a well-argued common stand.

Ministry of Education spokesperson Lindiwe Chide, in an interview on Thursday, also confirmed the meeting took place, but declined to disclose what was discussed.

She said Unima management was better placed to comment on the matter.

Principals from the colleges concerned have been reluctant to comment on the matter, with some of them stressing that they presented their cases to the reforms commission and were waiting for the outcome.

The principals, at a time the Public Service Reforms Commission was engaging institutions, caught Unima Council and Unima’s central office senior leadership unawares when they raised proposals on unbundling of Unima.

The university office later warned that the conduct of the principals during that meeting was irregular and that those not moving forward together with the council could be taken to task.

 The office said it was wrong for the principals to ignore a policy formulating body’s document that the council’s chairperson wanted them to adopt.

The idea of unbundling Unima colleges was also advanced by the late Bingu wa Mutharika, but it stalled then.

President Peter Mutharika mentioned about the unbundling of Unima three years ago, when Unima celebrated its 50th anniversary at CoM. The President promised that he was not going to stand in the way of the unbundling process.