God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. “God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers. Matthew 5:10-11
Member of Parliament (MP) for Salima North-West Dr. Jessie Kabwira, on Monday made an emotive contribution in the Parliament, accusing Minister of Education Emmanuel Fabiano of “gross incompetence and ineptitude.
“We can’t allow our honorable Minister (of Education) be relaxed here, including the entire House, when the country is bleeding outside. With such an attitude, it just shows how incompetent and inept the minister is. Being an academician, he knows well how such industrial strikes affect education standards which is key to this country.
MP Kabwila then asked that the Minister Fabiano should resign because, according to the lawmaker, the Minister failed to address the concerns of the lecturers strike at Chancellor College and the nation-wide primary school teachers’ strike.
Kabwila moved a motion that Government be moved with urgency to address the matter as soon as possible”, charged Kabwira.
To his credit, Education Minister Fabiano, stood his ground and challenged Kabwira by informing her and the House that the subject of salaries for University lectures, leave grants for is the prevue of the Finance Minister Gondwe was in better position to respond to the teachers’ and Chancellor College challenges.
Fabiano said the treasury was the responsible department for disbursement of funds, not his ministry. The Minister’s response is reported to have angered the whole House.
The stew thickens as Finance Minister Gondwe, eases the hearts and minds of the angry Parliament in informing them that his ministry would make the needed disbursement and the teachers would happily go to the bank with their unpaid arrears.
Finance Minister Gondwe twice confessed to the House that he “lied” by saying his ministry paid off the arrears, but that technically, nothing was done.
Teachers Union of Malawi (TUM), has been resolute: no pay, no teacher with chalk in hand in Malawi government schools. Period.
Scroll back to the House, the bravado statement made by MP Kabwila, coupled with angry-at-Fabiano Parliamentarians makes eyebrows to rise in wonderment. Why all the anger at someone sitting in the proverbial “phwi” mode, while the responsible official offers not once but three times alternative truths. And he admits that he had misinformed the House: Ministry of Finance had not disbursed funds for teachers to the district commissioners.
The storyline is Ministry of Finance has not released money meant for teachers leave grants; teachers are angry and they go on strike – this causes students and parents to spill out onto streets in anger, and they cause a little havoc in various parts of the country; enter in super woman Member of Parliament Kabwira and asks the quiet-in-the-whirlwind MoEd Prof. Fabiano to resign from his post as minister of education.
The question begging to be asked is, why Minister of Finance Gondwe was not given the same treatment as Fabiano? Why didn’t MP Kabwila ask for the floor again and re-direct the diatribe she poured on the “incompetent and inept” Fabiano, also released on Gondwe.
Whether one is near or far, Culprit Number One (CNA) is Finance Minister Goodall Gondwe. Last week he reported to the House that his ministry had released the teachers’ moneys to the district commissioners. Thank God, we are in a democracy, the DC’s called out Minister Gondwe’s big lie.
Amid the national TUM-instigated nation-wide teachers’ strike, Minister Gondwe announces in Parliament that the funds would be released by Monday. This is the day Kabwila uttered he motion for Minister of Education to resign.
Fabiano pleaded his not guilty case and pointed to the “villain” in the House; where is the Kabwila sting for Gondwe that you used in asking Minister Fabiano to resign? Why the kid gloves with Gondwe? Are there other unknown dynamics between Kabwila and Fabiano that are at play here?
Chancellor College lecturers are on strike due to discrepancies in salary structures with their colleagues at the medical college; teacher have downed the chalk due to unpaid leave grants. This is a situation in Minister of Education Fabiano’s backyard. Chancellor College is under the mandate of Chancellor Mutharika and Minister of Finance Gondwe.
Sadly, due to the tinkering Government has made in the disbursement of Government funds, individual ministries do not have control over how their department members (teachers in Ministry of Education, doctors in Ministry of Health etc.). All the money in in the hands of the Treasury Department that is controlled by the Finance Ministry.
With the lack of control over the emoluments of the employees in these departments, one could say the ministers are figureheads, because they have no control over how and when their employees are paid. The powers for the purse strings are with Minister of Finance.
The Government (and I mean the Executive, Parliament, and the Judiciary) should lay aside their Cashgate fears and recalculate how civil servants are to be paid by their line ministries.
The castigating of the wrong “villain” in the room must stop.
Janet Zeenat Karim Maravi Post Senior Editor