Nyasatimes has gathered information which implicate the University Council of Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (Kuhes) of attempting to doctor a report on a probe into allegations of student bullying, wanton withdrawal of the students and lecturers cheating at the institution.
According to the information we have gathered, the University Council has been caught between the rock and the hard place because the said report implicates, among other, academic staff that are blood related to the vice chancellor of the university.
At the heart of the matter is the investigation which Kuhes Council launched in February this year after the Platform for Investigative Journalism (PIJ) reported that some academic staff members bullied students and 'manipulated' results leading to the withdrawal of several bachelor of medicine bachelor of surgery (MBBS) students.
An Independent Taskforce force was instituted to investigate the matter and submitted a report to the council within 30 days.
According to one of the affected students indicated that participants were invited by the Taskforce for interviews and evidence tendering.
"The taskforce promise was that it would be independent of any external influence. They also promised to give the participants the report in 30 days time. To everyone's surprise, this is now more than 90 days and they are not willing to give out the report findings despite the taskforce admitting that the report was done," said the source who spoke to us condition of anonymity.
Added the source: "To the surprise of many again,when the request to have the report was made,the taskforce is admitting to have delayed but they also admit to have already finished their job as promised,but the University Council is changing/doctoring it to suit what they wanted to be found by the investigation and not what the facts after the natural process of investigations show.
"Some participants to this investigation feel betrayed by this and are not happy with the development and suspect foul play and that the objectivity of the findings would not be a true reflection of the taskforce's original report."
The other affected student was blunt in the interview he gave us, saying Professor Francis Moto, who is the chairperson of the University Council, appear to be conflicted because, among other academic staff, the report is implicating the wife to the Vice Chancellor and the wife's cousin.
"My fears are legitimate. Why should the University Council review a report produced by an independent task force? They are tampering with the report. We will not allow that," said the student.
In one of the submissions to the Taskforce, one of the affected students, in a document we have seen, wrote passionately calling on the taskforce to look into this issue seriously and make KUHeS an institution for all.
"Let students be judged based on their abilities, content of their character and prescribed rules and regulations ,the arbitrary punishment of innocent students be stopped, let all students from all corners of Malawi and the world enjoy the rights to education and academic freedoms as enshrined in the constitution , let all students be treated equally ,let the university not keep sacred cows, let all lecturers be disciplined accordingly if found flouting rules and regulations, as it stands, students are not safe in the hands of some of the lecturers mentioned in this institution, society is also not safe," reads the document.
According to highly placed sources in the Taskforce team, the report was concluded in May and submitted to the University Council in the first week of June for action. In fact, the source told us that the University Council once called a meeting with the Taskforce to discuss the penalties recommended in the report against academic staff who were implicated.
However, despite being submitted in early June, Kuhes registrar Christopher Namagowa says the independent task force submitted the report to the council whose mandate expired on July 11, meaning there is no council to release the findings.
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He said: "The report was presented to the council, and it is still on the council's desk. Unfortunately, the tenure for Kuhes council ended on 11th July 2024. Presently, we are waiting for the appointment of the new council".
The PIJ report, showed that between 2017 and 2022, out of 157 students withdrawn from the university on academic grounds, 49 percent were from MBBS programme.
Members of the task force are from Kuhes Council, Medical Council of Malawi, Medical Doctors Association of Malawi, Malawi Human Rights Commission and Malawi Health Equity Network, among others.
The university registrar, however, declined to explain why the council wants to review a report from an independent task force, saying: "It's hard to answer on behalf of council".
