Legislators owe Machinga Secondary School K27m fees

Some members of Parliament (MPs) in Machinga District are yet to remit school fees under a bursary scheme for needy students at Machinga Secondary School.

The funds are part of five percent of the K100 million Constituency Development Fund (CDF) meant to help needy students from their respective constituencies.

But in an interview on Wednesday, Machinga Secondary School head teacher Kidwell Chipwatali said the lawmakers have not remitted to bursaries for the past two years and the balances have now accumulated to K27 million.

He said the situation has affected several operations at the school, including forcing the institution into debt with its food suppliers and failure to procure teaching and learning materials.

“For two years, the MPs have been enrolling students despite surpassing the bursary programme ceiling of K5 million annually. Some MPs failed to pay us the whole of the 2022/23 academic year,” said Chipwatali.

A report from the school indicates that one legislator owes the school K11 million, another K9 million, a third K7 million and another K450 000.

In random interviews with some of the MPs, but not those who owe the school, they acknowledged the problem.

Machinga Central East legislator Daudi Chikwanje (Democratic Progressive Party-DPP) attributed the problem to inadequate resources for bursary fund.

Machinga North East legislator Ajilu Richard Kalitendele (DPP) asked school authorities to calm down.

“These are our children and we can’t let them down. The mony will be paid soon,” he said

Machinga East MP Esther Jolobala (United Democratic Front) said poor coordination between MPs, school management and district council officials contributed to the problem.

In a separate interview, Machinga District Council spokesperson Martin Chiwanda said they are ready to engage the MPs to see how best to address the issue.