Malawi's education minister has accused Madonna of exaggerating her charity's involvement in a new schools project.
The Vogue superstar, who has adopted two children from the African nation, teamed her Raising Malawi charity with a non-profit school-building organisation called buildOn to construct 10 educational facilities last year (12).
Building work was reportedly completed before Christmas (12) and Madonna released a statement praising the achievement: "I am overjoyed that my commitment along with buildOn's to help educate the children of Malawi has come to fruition. The fact that more than 4,800 children in Malawi will get to go to school next year is a tremendous step forward for their individual growth and the growth of Malawi."
However, Education Minister Eunice Kazembe has argued that Madonna's charity didn't play such a big part in the project.
She tells British newspaper The Independent, "The schools Raising Malawi claims to have constructed were already in existence. Raising Malawi only built 10 classroom blocks and not schools. People should know the difference between the two."
Kazembe insisted Malawi government officials were keen to "clarify any misconceptions that may arise".
The singer has endured numerous problems with her operations in Malawi over the last few years - her plan to build a $15 million (£9.4 million) elite academy for girls was abandoned amid allegations of financial mismanagement and the project's collapse led to the dismissal of the foundation's board of directors.
She tells British newspaper The Independent, "The schools Raising Malawi claims to have constructed were already in existence. Raising Malawi only built 10 classroom blocks and not schools. People should know the difference between the two."
That's really disappointing and upsetting. Those kids deserve better. Hopefully someone comes to their aid. It's really unfortunate that Madonna and her team not only lied but also tried to cover it up.
Clearly, as evidenced by several governments refusal to assist Malawi due to the country's mismanagement of everything from funds to simply being able to tell the truth, Madonna should rethink her involvement in a country sliding backwards. Follow the lead of the British government and put your good faith efforts somewhere will they will be appreciated. The announcement was made not only by Madonna, but by BuildOn as well. Did BuildOn lie about the schools also? Madonna provided the funding and BuildOn built the schools. Why no mention of them at all? Did the person writing this article bother to ask ALL parties involved exactly what happened, or is this another bash Madonna story? Some in the current government obviously have it in for her. Remember, When the joint announcement was made about the INTENTION to build the schools, the same Education Minister claimed that was a lie and that no plans had been submitted to them for approval. That was proven not to be true as well.
I was just about to make a thread about this. Such a shame. Her team should clarify it was 10 classrooms and not 10 schools instead of accepting credit for something that's not true.
