Karonga museum says no money ‘Cashgated’
Officials managing the Karonga museum have strongly refuted allegations that they have siphoned over MK 5.2 million funding meant for renovating the facility’s roof.
In late 2014 the museum held a fundraising event meant for sourcing funds for renovating the museum’s roof which was in a bad condition.
During the event the museum realized MK 5.2 million which came about among others from a MK 2.5 million and MK 1 million donation from Airtel Malawi and National Bank of Malawi respectively.
However, since the fundraising activity back in 2014 no renovation has been done on the multi-million facility’s roof which has led to speculation that the management of the museum had squandered the money.
But addressing the media over the weekend Karonga museum manager, Winston Mwagomba, rubbished the claims that the management had siphoned the fundraising money describing the allegations as “unfortunate.”
He said money which was realized is safe in a fixed deposit account at FDH bank we verified has MK 5.7million set to be matured on 23 may 2018.
“We are really hurt with the reports that we have stolen money but the truth of the matter is that after the fundraising we engaged Safintra Malata to give us a quotation on how much it will cost to rehabilitate the roof and they gave us a quotation of about 18 million hence we failed to refurbish the roofs because the money we realized was not enough,” said Mwagomba.
He further said the European Union who funded the construction of the museum have now agreed to fund the renovation of the roof and works are expected to get underway shortly.
“As management we are transparent and accountable hence EU voted us the best managed project with their funding and they have trusted us again with another funding for the rehabilitation of the roof,” he said.
According to the museum manager, once the fundraising money becomes matured in May the museum will use the funds to construct a fence around the museum premise to provide better security for its tourists.
The Karonga museum was opened 2004 by late President Bingu Wa Mutharika and the European Union funded the project at the tune of £300,000.
Follow and Subscribe Nyasa TV :
