JB approves Luanar Vice Chancellor

The newly established Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (Luanar) has maiden Vice Chancellor , Professor George Kanyama Phiri.

Chairman of the Luanar Council Professor Zachary Kasomekera confirmed the appointment saying the Vice Chancellor reported for duty on October 27.

“I can confirm that President Joyce Banda approved the appointment of Professor George Kanyama Phiri as the Vice Chancellor. For now, as the first priority, he will focus on building human resource capacity at the new university,” said Kasomekera in a phone interview yesterday.

Professor Phiri, who retired as Principal of Bunda College of Agriculture, could not be traced for comment yesterday.

However, Kasomekera further said Professor Moses Kwapata, who has recently been cleared by the Luanar Council on the accusations of bad administration by students, will remain the Principal of Bunda College.

Kasomekera explained that Luanar is focusing on Bunda College as its first constituent college before incorporating other institutions that include Natural Resources College (NRC) and Chitedze Research Station.

It was initially planned that the Agriculture Research and Extension Trust (Aret) would be under Luanar as a college but this met resistance from stakeholders like tobacco farmers and a bill is underway to legally delink Aret from Luanar.