Land wrangles persist inK76.5bn schools project

Ministry of Education says land ownership challenges continue to stall progress of the 250 secondary schools project funded by the United States of America Government.

The ministry’s Principal Secretary Chikondano Mussa said in an interview the project has been haunted by land ownership challenges in some areas because communities and government failed to agree on land to be allocated for construction of schools.

She said: “We have had instances where upon commencement of construction, family members show up and say you did not consult me and you should not have given away my land.

“These fights have forced us to abandon and then wait until the amicable agreement between family members is reached.”

Mussa added that some of the land disputes have forced government to have a carryover of the works into other phases.

She cited the phase where 40 schools were supposed to be constructed in rural areas, but due to the land disputes, construction has commenced for only 38 schools.

Mussa said: “There were supposed to be 40, but on two sites we failed to agree with the communities on land ownership.

“The current phase is supposed to have about 54 secondary schools, but construction is being carried out in 51 sites only. Three have failed because of land ownership issues.”

She said the ministry is working to minimise such incidents.

The $90 million (about K76.5 billion) Secondary Education Expansion for Development (Seed) project was launched in 2018 as a four-year programme, but it was extended by a year to end in March 2022.

However, the project is now expected to be completed by June 2024 and the ministry is hopeful that this time around it will meet the deadline.

To date, 84 sites have already been worked on in the previous phases, although eight schools have not been completed.

Currently, the project is targeting to have 51 schools completed this year.

Mussa dismissed fears that the number of schools to be constructed has been reduced, saying the figure remains 250 schools as earlier indicated.

The 250 schools are expected to create learning space for about 38 000 learners.

Malawi is facing a shortage of secondary schools which has seen only 19 percent of the secondary school age group having access to secondary school.

In an interview yesterday, Civil Society Education Coalition executive director Benedicto Kondowe blamed government for failing to properly engage communities on the sites for the project.

He said: “This issue should have been dealt with at the beginning and not now. The problem is that government assumes it controls everything.

“Under customary land, people own pieces of land and decide how to use them. So they need to be engaged properly for such projects.”

Kondowe has since called on government to do a proper assessment of the projects and see if all the 250 schools will be constructed by June 2024.

The first phase was a pilot phase during which 16 secondary schools were constructed and handed over for use.

The second phase, which targeted 30 schools, was aimed at expanding community day secondary schools in cities. The structures were also handed over for use.

The third phase is targeting rural areas and the first component of the phase had 38 sites. Of the 38 schools, 30 have been completed and handed over, while eight are moving towards completion and will be completed by September.