Lecturers petition Nust over ‘mismanagement’
NATIONAL University of Science and Technology (Nust) lecturers have petitioned the institution’s council over alleged mismanagement after the university’s top managers allegedly splashed money on personal vehicles in the face of teaching aids shortages.
Nust lecturers downed tools last Monday, a few days after the university opened for the new academic year.
Lecturers who spoke to The Chronicle on condition of anonymity said they resolved to go on strike after being frustrated by management which was spending money on itself at the expense of the university’s development.
The lecturers said they had since written a letter to the Nust council chaired by Ambassador Zenzo Nsimbi stating their grievances.
Nust Educators Association (Nusteda) secretary general Mr Blessing Jona declined to shed more light on the matter saying the issue was still being discussed.
He, however, maintained that the strike had nothing to do with salaries as lecturers were happy with their monthly salaries.
A lecturer who spoke on condition of anonymity said the university’s management bought top of the range vehicles at the expense of teaching and learning aids.
“We tried to engage the management as far back as June but they did not want to have any audience with us. Our issues are very simple. We are concerned with underdevelopment of our institution. We can’t continue to watch the institution we love being destroyed under our watchful eyes,” said one of the lecturers.
“We are very passionate about Nust as lecturers and it pains us to see management running down the university. Recently management bought a Toyota Hilux for the acting Vice Chancellor, a Ford Ranger for the acting pro-Vice Chancellor, Toyota Revo for several directors,” said the lecturer.
He said non-academic staff such as the two deputy bursars, deputy registrar, and deputy librarian among others were bought Chevrolet Captiva vehicles. “The vehicles we are talking about are very expensive yet some labs are in a sorry state with no equipment. Lecturers have to fight to use projectors and when we raise such issues, they say the cars are part of their conditions of service,” said the lecturer.
He said the university staff and students were still crammed in the few buildings and the situation has been worsened by management’s decision to increase enrolment.
Ambassador Nsimbi declined to comment saying it was only Nust’s director of marketing and communication Mr Felix Moyo who could comment on any issues relating to the university.
Mr Moyo said: “We all agreed that we are not discussing this outside until we have sat down as a community at Nust and discuss item by item to find solutions. I’m not in a position even to refute, confirm, or deny what is being said.” — @ nqotshili child neglect mainly due to the fact that being a predominantly fishing district, most parents leave their children either alone or with elderly caregivers and spend months at the fishing camps.
“The trend is that most such families end up disintegrating as parents divorce and re-marry at fishing camps thereby neglecting children back home. There are also many cases of emotional abuse attributed to new partners with whom the children’s parents end up settling with,” reads part of the report.
A total of 906 children were said to be in need of educational support and 315 needed medical support.
About 177 disabled children needed devices such as wheelchairs, the report stated.
During the three-month period, 265 children were neglected by their parents while 26 were subjected to sexual abuse and 102 to different kinds of physical abuse. There are 168 children who were subjected to emotional abuse while 86 were used as child labourers and 58 forced into early marriage. About 13 were either living in conflict or were abandoned.
Binga District Administrator Mrs Lydia Ndethi-Banda said they will take advantage of the mobile voter registration exercise which is underway countrywide to encourage parents in the district to apply for birth certificates for their children. — @ncubeleon