President Rupia Banda says he is sadned to note that after 50 years of existence, Mindolo Ecumenical Foundation (MEF) still depends on donors and other corporating partners for support.
And Mindolo Ecumincal Foundation has disclosed that it owes the Kitwe City Council over K430 million in land rates.
President Banda said organisations like MEF required massive injection of funds for programmes, infrastructural development and maintaince in order to depend less on donors.
He said there was urgent need for management at Mindolo Ecumenical Foundation in Kitwe to move with the times and embrace the changes that are happening politcally, socially and economically if the institution was to remain viable.
The President said this in Kitwe today in a speech read on his behalf by Education Ministrer, Dora Siliya, at the joint 51st Pan African graduation ceremony and golden jubilee celebrations.
He added that while it was good for the institution to look back at the past accomplishment, MEF could not afford to remain stuck in history and fail to utilise the historical achievements for the betterment of the future.
He said government was in a hurry to develop the country and would continue creating an enabling environment for players in the tertially education sector like MEF to smoothly implement there programmes.
Mr Banda said Mindolo, in the spirit of ecumenicalism, should bring together various stakeholders to a table and determine the future for this country, including addressing the challenges of poverty and underdevelopment through its programmes.
He added that government was proud to be associated with MEF because the organisation has made significant contribution to the development of Africa for the last 50 by managing to bring together people of difference races, nationalities and religions through the courses it offers.
The President further said the currently 50 per cent of the Zambian population were women and that the programme of gender and good governance being implemented by the institution was critical to national development.
He observed that there was need for MEF not to confine such programmes but to spread them to the entire country, especially rural areas.
The President urged the the graduants to take the first step in developing Africa using the necessary skills acquired from MEF.
He added that they were the greatest human resource that Africa had produced and that no one would develop Africa except for them.
And MEF Board Chairperson, Reverand Susanna Matale, said the organisation, which had trained several African leaders, was going through enormous administrative and operational problems.
Rev Matale said the institution was chocked by land rates of over K430 million that were being asked for by the Kitwe City Council.
She said the institution had failed to clear this bill, a situation which had forced the local authority to grab property from the institution.
She appealed to the President to squash the current debt and abolish all land rates being imposed on the MEF by the council.
Rev Matale also called on church leaders to slow down on divisions and concentrate on issues that would build the nation.
He urged management at MEF to soldier on to ensure that the institution pulled through its problems.
Earlier MEF Director, Rev Peter Daka, said the student intake at the institution had dropped from the previous 150 to 31 due to a decline in donor support.
Rev Daka appealed to government to give the institution necessary support by sending civil servants to undertake refresher courses at the institution.
ZANIS
chioneni chisilu, icho onani!
walk the talk first RB and Dora…to MEF hope you are listening from this speech written on behalf and read on behalf of RB…lol
Ecumenical Foundation dubiously grabbed that land from United Church of Zambia. They Its really sad that MEF is passing thruogh this but they deserve it. That land belongs to the United Church of Zambia but MEF grabbed it from UCZ. They sked for a place from UCZ and they were offered a place by the then United Church of the Copperblet before it changed its Name to United church of Zambia. But later MEF connived with some people and claimed that that Land belongs to them. If fact, Mindolo Secondary School and Kitwe Teachers Education College KTC all belonged to the UCZ but sad that the government after independence grabbed those institutions. Mindolo Ecumenical foundation used to receive alot of Money from donor community but lack of good usage resulted in the situation in which they are in
But his government is the worst dependent on donor and not moving with political and economical changes. Mindolo is even better. They are educating and not promoting corruption and travelling every where.
I find this statement miplaced. Was he serious? Mr. President, Zambia is 45 years from independence and still largely dependent on donors for its economic survival.MEF is just an instituion within Zambia. The happenings there are just a mirror image of our economy. An improvement in the overall economy of our nation will translate into improved economic status of our institutions. Please spare us the political rhetoric Mr. Banda through your Dora.
Naimwe a Reverend Daka mwachitika chani pakuti your Predecessor Father Charlie Tomas did not have problems in running that Institution. Koma chikumba chakuda china mavuto. Immediately you came, munachosa banthu nchito because of the noble strike. Now that you have faced it that chilipamuzako maba chapita chi paiwe. Pay that money to the local council other wise you will loose property. MEF is not as clean as it used to be. Its not even as famous as it used to be. What has gone long bana ba Mama kansi? A Banda mwachitanayo chani MEF kansi?
# 4 & 5 – that’s great thinking. just what I was going to say. If the governemnt keeps borrowing and begging, just so that RB can travel in luxury, how about those institutions that should depend on it for survival? Rb, do you really sit down to think things over before you open your big mouth? Give us a break, Bwezani, mwana. Kanti king’i cwalo, wena, mushimani?
# 7 you are right. It’s like a frog calling someone ugly. How can he possibly talk about donor dependence, when his government is at the mercy of donor aid. This is laughable, he needs to talk about something else, or simply keep quiet.
Pot calling kettle black! £37million per year from Tom and his people, about £50 million from is it Norway, the list goes on and on. Yet this man says something like this abpout MEF!
Questions: The speech highlights the problem but where is the solution? Why should the council cancel the land rate when they also have commitments? Is it not Dora Siliya duty as the Minister of Education to be giving solutions to the President’s criticism on this subject? What strategies are being used to enroll students? There are so many schools they can approach to enroll students…what incentives of employment are they offering after finishing the program? What methods are they using to raise funds? For example, Including, other popular degree programs or linking up with a well known university could bring some money from paying students.
That from a president of a country who`s budget is donor funded is ludicrous really!
Then do something about it.. feeling sad doesn’t mean a thing.. it will not yield any results or help MEF’s problems….
I spent the better part of my happy childhood at MEF at the UCZ Ministerial Training College now the UCZ Theological College. The Dag Hammerskjoeld Library was my favorite haunt then – always well stocked with books I indulged myself in. I remember guys like Roy Sikaneta, Reginald Mfula, Cyril Lukeke, etc. I still have fond memories of the place and it will forever be etched in my memory. Those were the days!
So if this particular case saddens him, does it mean he is happy about the entire nation’s dependence on donors? Mr. President, you can’t be concerned about the face and neglect the whole body.
Ba #13, you sound familiar. I know a Reginald Mfula from Mufulira and Cyril Lukeke from Kalulushi……in those old days …
The problems at MEF are purely managemental.The chaps inchrage have no clue on how to run the institution.They are always quick to chase performing managers on flimsy grounds.MEF was beautiful but when i was there this january,I couldnt believe seeing jungles in MEF.Dag Library was in a rundown state.
MEF dwells on Laissez faire type of management and usually dominated by pastors and church leaders who think MEF can be run like a church. I have no issues with church leaders but I hate it when they interfere with techinical and competent managers.
Mrs. Stevens, it’s always nice to come across someone who is familiar on these blogs. The last time I heard of Reginald Mfula he was Managing Director of the Credit and Savngs Bank. I am told he is now with the Zambia Business Forum. A little bird tells me Cyril Lukeke is with ZCCM Investments . I don’t know where Roy Sikaneta and the other guys are. I just hope they haven’t fallen through the cracks! I recently met Roy/’s older sister at a family funeral and I forgot to ask.
Rupiah doesn’t even know why NON-PROFIT MAKING ORGANISATION Mindolo Ecumenical Foundation was formed, and wants to pretend he doesn’t know the beginings or immeasurable contribution Mindolo has made and that it’s probably one of the reasons he’s sitting there. This institution which has always formed on grants by affirmative action welwishers was one of the only places set-up during the Colonial Days before 1955 where Black people could learn skills, learn to read and write, learn administration. My late grandfathr (aged 90-2005) trained as hospital assist in the 50’s there thn wokrd Zambezi health centre . Rupiah not everything is about profit. Evry time you are presented with a bill you run away. even for noble causes such as this. Pls be socially responsible for a change.
My mother, whose 59 years old now started school in 1958 there while grndpa was training, and you know she met one of the missionaries a year ago, still in Zambia still alive, that recognised her despite her age. RB if you dont want to make any contribution personal or otherwise, at all then dont. No one is forcing you. If you were mature you could have have contacted a few well wishers or phlanthropist who believ in the projects they are currently running or suggest a fundrasing dinner to offset the rates cost. How do go and shout at a non-profit making faith based institution set-up to help the poor, and tell them to be self sufficient?? all Non-Profit Organisation including GRZ world over operate on faith good cause and donations. How heartless can you be. It hurts .
Its a pity that such an institution can die like that. The problem there is huge. What has compounded the situation is unclear ownership. Who really owns MEF? If the ownership issue was clear the nonsense at MEF would not be going on. The board is so incompetent and corrupt, they have no clue why MEF was established, the institution has a management that cannot even run a primary school. Its a pity! No sensible donor would give money to MEF in its present form.
Magicroundabout, ” That from a president of a country who`s budget is donor funded is ludicrous really! ”
Remember that ‘donor aid’ are just words. Right now the MMD refuses to tax the mines, in fact finds every excuse under the sun not to tax them. They are leaving over $1 billion per year on the table, so they have no right to complain about money. This dwarfs the $600 million in ‘donor aid’ the government is receiving.
Really? I thought he should be ashamed that 45 years after independence, his government is still dependent on donor funding. That 465 years after independence, he has to send his own ministers and family members to South Africa for treatment! What has he to show us for 45 years of Zambian independence? That he is president? Someone wrote that speech for you and you approved it? You are a disgrace!
My sister studied at Mindolo. I wanted to study journalism there, I ended up ay Hone. In my travels across Africa, I have come across, a lot of Aficans who studied at Mindolo.
1. The one saying MEF deserves the conditions it is going through is not different from RB. Man think before you publish things. What logic are you trying to bring about in your argument. If MEF was not properly owned it doesn’t matter. Are you a UCZ? Be an informed one Man, life is not about the past. We live in the present and let the by gone be the by gone. Whether the land was owned legally or illegally that is not the matter.
2. RB’s talk is very childish, how do you expect Mindolo to be self reliant when Zambia is not self reliant. We have from celebrating the 45th Independence anniversary of suffering. If Zambia is not producing how MEF is going to proce? THINK MAN
That is what happens when Africans takeover the running of anything. They cannot run anything profitably. They have to depend on donors. Zambia is one of the countries which shamefully depends on donors. I am told that even the Kafue Roundabout on the southern end of Cairo Road in Lusaka is waiting for donors, the so called cooperating partners, to make it look nice. Now Zambia is a big joke.
Iam a journalist who passed through ALC, MEF a graduate of communication managent and business studies, I clearly understand what our institution is going through.I took time to interact with the REV Daka.He is a very good man who is intellegient and God fearing.I know he has spent a lot of time in the ministry but given time and finances he can turn around MEF.We should not blame him because he found those problems.I also had interacted with Late Fr , fr Charie Thomas they also had vision for MEF.But what we need to do all of us who passed through MEF is to come up with solutions.And one thing that is on my mind is turning MEF into an University.the infrastructure MEF has can not be matched to other universities.So let us not blame one another it won’t help matters.Let us build Zambia.
Have noted the comments. I grew up at MEF and had a v aluable experience of our litte UN in Zambia. History will show tha there were few training faclities in Zambia and MIndolo was desiigned to train journalists ,bankers, youth leaders, priests ,artists, farmers, lay leaders, women trainers not only for Zambia but AFRICA. Hence the nonprofit. Funding souceses. Many influential persons passed through. Who are leaders in Zambia and Africa. Mindolo was at the front for progammes in training leaders who were later to take o ver countries that were repreesed going for freedom. I have fond memeories of Dr K Kaundaks speeches of work Mindolo was doing in helping the region training needs when he used to come to MEF. Sadly. We wish. To sweep all this under the carpet. What is reguired is a clear…
Applition for membership
Do you still admit students from other countries Like Uganda? if so when is the intake?
Good to have such comment from a number one citizen of a nation, that means problem solve. Go into action make positive change in MEF since it is a known problem at the national and international level.