The Malawi University of Science and Technology has been forced to send students home after taps on campus ran dry.
Media reports quoted registrar Tarcisius Nampota on 7 November saying that MUST was forced to close due to a “scarcity of water on campus” as a result of breakages of the water pumps that supply the campus.
According to the Nyasa Times, students protested over water issues that had been ongoing since the university’s opening in October 2014.
As of 9 November the university was still closed.
“MUST remains closed following water challenges following breakdown of two water pumps. Meanwhile, all efforts are being undertaken by the Southern Region Water Board to ensure that the problem is rectified and water supply is restored. It is also management’s wish that students be recalled as soon as the problem is fixed,” the university said in statement.
A local non-profit organisation, the Centre for the Development of People, has slammed the government for the crisis. In a statement it criticised Malawian president Peter Mutharika for taking credit for establishing the university while doing nothing to fix recurring water shortages.
MUST is the country’s only science university.