Police, students clash in Machinga District

T

here was chaos in Machinga District yesterday when students from Machinga Teacher Training College rioted and blocked the Zomba-Liwonde Road to force management to pay them their teaching practice allowances.

According to a witness, Gerald Palana, the disgruntled students spilled to the road around 8.30am and blocked it.

“They burnt tyres, which made the road impassable for about two hours,” he said.

Palana said the protesters only left the road after police officers threw tear gas canisters at them.

In an interview yesterday, Machinga Police Station spokesperson Western Kansile admitted that they threw tear gas canisters to disperse the students from the road.

“The riot affected innocent road users as protesters pelted motorists with stones, which is not acceptable. We are still on the ground to monitor the situation,” he said.

According to a student who spoke on condition of anonymity, the students were supposed to receive K20 000 per month from March to September this year when they were on teaching practice in various schools, adding that the allowances accumulated to K120 000 for each student.

In a separate interview, Machinga Teacher Training College principal Loudon Chimangeni said the concerned students did not receive their teaching practice allowances because they presented wrong bank account details.

He said: “Under the new payment system, we do not issue cheques to students. They receive directly from the Accountant General’s Office.

“So, when creating the list, it was discovered that some students had wrong account numbers. Some have corrected the problem while others are yet to correct their bank details.”