Madonna: Malawi children let down

Reports are that Madonna’s Malawi girls school a “gift” to the country that gave her two children will not now be built.

Lawsuits are apparently flying between sacked staff on one side and Madonna on the other, amid accusations of corruption and ‘lack of progress’. 

With the scales tipping heavily on the money side, the bet is that the disgruntled would-be teachers who have filed court papers alleging unfair dismissal and non-payment of benefits probably won’t see a pay day.

The £100 million Raising Malawi Academy was intended to take in 500 girls and prepare them as women leaders of the future.

But the scheme now in tatters, has left scores of villages - who had moved out of their homes and given over their land to make way for the school on a117-acre site near the capital Lilongwe -  furious that they have been left stranded.

The families had been persuaded to move from the village under the promise that jobs would follow after the campus and commercial offshoots were built.

Apparently the land was given to the Government who passed it on to Madonna. Let’s hope that Madonna puts the situation right and not leave the villagers worse off than she found them.

Isn't it astonishing though that Western companies manage to build successful enterprises across Africa but a venture that would benefit locals has so easily fallen at the foundations?

Winsome-Grace Cornish

Main image: Madonna marks ground