Luo lied to Parliament over Nkrumah University closure – Tutwa

Kabwe Central Patriotic Front member of parliament Tutwa Ngulube following parliament proceedings on September 26, 2017 - Picture by Tenson Mkhala

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Kabwe Central PF member of parliament Tutwa Ngulube says claims by Higher Education Minister Professor Nkandu Luo that government closed down Kwame Nkrumah University because the upgraded institution had no qualified lecturers is false.

And Ngulube says Prof Luo did not widely consult before presenting her statement to Parliament about the closure of Kwame Nkrumah University; arguing that had she done her research widely, she would have discovered that the minimum qualification for a university lecturer is a Master’s Degree.

Speaking to News Diggers in an interview, Ngulube said Prof Luo’s statement in Parliament last week on Friday was missing facts, and vowed that he would take his question back to the House until he gets a satisfactory response.

“If you heard the statement given by the Minister of Higher Education, you will find that the minister did not categorically state the date when the university is going to open. She didn’t even clearly state when the recruitment process for lecturers would finish. So the statement did not actually contain all the ingredients of the questions that we gave her, it lacked a lot of details. Basically, I think the way she was presenting herself showed that there is something missing in the manner that she is running the ministry,” Ngulube said.

Ngulube disagreed with Prof Luo’s claim that government decided to close down Kwame Nkrumah University because lecturers were unqualified to work at the institution.

“It’s not possible that all lecturers currently teaching at Kwame Nkrumah do not have the necessary qualifications. In fact some of those lecturers are holders of Master’s Degrees and some have got PHDs, others are students of PHDs and others are pursuing their Professorial studies. So I think the information she gave is something that she did not consult properly. If she had consulted properly she would have actually discovered that even the University of Zambia (UNZA), it doesn’t have professors only. Even the Copperbelt University (CBU) doesn’t have Professors or PHDs throughout, no! The minimum qualification for University lecturers is a Masters Degree. Once you have a Masters Degree you can teach in any university, that’s law and that is the qualification,” he said.

He vowed to continue pressing the Minister of Higher Education about the indefinite closure of Kwame Nkrumah until he gets a satisfactory response.

“For the minister to say that all universities should have Professors throughout, I don’t think Zambia has reached that stage. However, as for the people of Kabwe who sent me to go and ask the minister those questions, and were anxiously waiting for the response, I will still go and tell them the response I got and then we will still find a way to bring back the question to the ministry because I feel that it was not answered completely,” said Ngulube.

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About Mirriam Chabala

Mirriam Chabala is a Zambian journalist who covers current affairs and writes in-depth feature articles on social issues.
Email: mirriam [at] diggers [dot] news