Off the Shelf

Was the 15-year govt bond for Mombera University a scam?

On January 7 2021 I submitted on this space the need for equitable distribution of the national cake. Specifically, I talked about the need for government to ensure that tertiary institutions, university colleges in particular, are equitably distributed across the country. Needless to say that these institutions spur social and economic growth in the areas they are located through allied businesses and social economic amenities which come with them.

I made this observation against the background of the unbundling of the University of Malawi (Unima) through amendment of Act 18, 19 and 20 of 2019 and the establishment of three new universities. The development exposed the unequal sharing of the national resources in the education sector across the country’s three regions.

From the delinked Unima institutions were created three universities, namely, the University of Malawi formerly Chancellor College, Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (Kuhes) from the College of Medicine and Kamuzu College of Nursing, while the Polytechnic was renamed Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences (Mubas).

Going by where the three new universities are located, the South now has four public universities—Unima, Kuhes, Mubas and the Malawi University of Science and Technology (Must).   

The Centre has one public university, the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (Luanar). Lilongwe is also where one campus of the former Kamuzu College of Nursing is based. 

On the other hand, the North has one public university, Mzuzu University (Mzuni).  While Unima, Kuhes, Mubas, Must and Luanar were all purpose-built from scratch with own infrastructure as university colleges, Mzuni is a make-up from Mzuzu Teachers’ Training College. No major new infrastructure development took place to establish Mzuni.

Of note on the list of universities in the South is Must which was originally supposed to be built in Lilongwe as Lilongwe University of Science and Technology (Lustech). All architectural plans and building designs were done and a loan agreement negotiated with the Republic of China based on plans for the construction of Lustech in Lilongwe. If all had gone according to the original plan, the Centre would now have two universities—Luanar and Lustech. This would have been a more equitable distribution of national resources in the education sector than what we now have. But former president Bingu wa Mutharika thought Lilongwe was not good enough to host the new university. So he took it to his home district, Thyolo. Bingu was also on course to do the same for the Bingu National Stadium. He wanted the facility to be built in Blantyre or somewhere near his home. Only his death on April 5 or 7, 2012 thwarted this plan. His successor Joyce Banda took the stadium back to Lilongwe. 

So the South has four public universities, Centre one and one campus for Kuhes, and North one.

The highly skewed location of public universities should spur government to expedite construction of the much-touted Inkosi ya Makhosi M’mbelwa University in Mzimba. In its first substantive national budget statement in 2020, the Tonse Alliance administration only listed the university (known then as Mombera University), as one of its 15 flagship projects to benefit from a long term local development bond. Government said at that time it was making headway on preparations to issue a 15-year development bond for the projects. Through the bonds government expected to raise K1 trillion. According to government, construction of Mombera University would start once the bonds started maturing.

I said that time, for those who can remember that this was just sweet talk, and at best just dreams. With this financing tool government was just shy of saying Mombera University was not one of its immediate plans. If it was a priority project, government would have funded the project directly from the national budget.

By the way, I hear Mombera University has been operating fully, replete with a council, students, classrooms and professors drawing salaries. A discussion topic for another day.

Well, it’s been two years since government announced about the 15-year development bond for the projects. Nothing has been said about progress on how much of the K1 trillion has so far been raised. But now we hear Bridgin Foundation is the institution that will finance Inkosi M’mbelwa University alongside 10 or so other projects at a dizzying cost of K7 trillion. Government distractors have said the foundation is a scam. We can talk about this another time.

For now, well and good if government has found a new financier, especially if it can fund the project quicker. But at least government should have had the courtesy to update the nation about what is happening to the 15-year development bond. Or was it a scam?

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