Malawi Universities Closed for the Past 100 Days

Thought this was quite interesting and wanted to share the information I have been collecting the past few weeks.

When I was at Club Zanzibar and met Winnie and Fiskan they both mentioned that they had been out of school for awhile because all the universities were closed.  I had a hard time understanding why this was so I inquired.  Due to their broken english and my inability to translate I had to ask Alfred and Gerald to explain why universities have been closed for more than 100 days across Malawi!

Gerlad explained that turmoil began to erupt after Inspector General of Police Peter Mukhito questioned professor Dr. Blessings Chinsinga who reportedly led a public policy class about crises like Malawi's persistent fuel shortages can lead to insurrections like those that have toppled the governments of Abiden Ben Ali of Tunisia and Hosni Mubarak of Egypt.

He then explained that lectures across the country walked out in protest, arguing their academic freedom had been compromised.  They demanded an apology from Mukhito and that similar incidents like this wound not happen in the future.  

Mukhito refused to apologize, insisting he was simply doing his job of ensuring national security.  Afred told me that the President of Malawi, Bingu wa Mutharika, who is Chancellor of the University of Malawi and Commander-in-Chief of the Malawi Police Service has backed Mukhito stating he should not apologize to "teachers who are teaching revolution."

Alfred and Gerald said that professors should be free to teach what they want.  They said that this has caused so much harm to a once seller system as many students continued to pay university fees in order to hold their spots while they had been out of school for more than three months.  

Well this past Saturday President Bingu wa Mutharika, in an address to the nation, apologized and said schools should be back in session after much scrutiny from the international community.  

After more than 100 days of universities across the country being closed we can look forward to my friends, Winnie and Fiskan, going back to school to finish their degree.