Administrator under scrutiny for cleaning campus in the restive North West Region

The Divisional Officer (DO) for Mbengwi Central Subdivision, Ngidah Lawrence Che, has surfaced in a thirty-second video on social media, clearing a bushy area.

Ngidah can be seen cleaning a bushy area at the Government Practising Nursery School Chigwiri in Mbengwi Central Subdivision, MMI can confirm. In the video, people are heard hailing the administrator for “setting a good example and inspiring many.”

Many have reacted – with many saying Mr. Ngidah is simply doing it for the cameras.

But the DO disagrees. He says working towards getting children onto a clean campus for the 2023–2024 academic year is very important.

Ngidah assumed office as DO for Mbengwi in May 2023. He sealed shops at the Moon Market just a week later. This was after traders failed to show up in the market in the ghost towns instituted by separatists in the conflict-hit English-speaking regions.

Engwari, a trader at the Moon Market, says that Ngidah has failed to deliver since he became the DO of Mbengwi.

Ngidah chaired a meeting with teachers in Mbengwi on September 1, intended to advocate school resumption on September 4. “He forced us to march to the Mbon market, where we sang the national anthem before dispersing,” a school administrator told MMI.

School boycott in Mbengwi

The 2023–2024 academic year has not yet begun for schools in Mbengwi. On day two, the locals are abiding by a lockdown that some separatist factions have imposed, keeping the division’s streets ghosted.

Humphrey, a resident of Mile 19 Mbengwi, told MMI that the town is still ghosted. We all stayed home today, and no child went to school.

The lockdown negatively impacted school resumption in Mbengwi. Locals are staying home out of fear of the unknown. Many told MMI that while they are aware that not all factions are in favour of the lockdown, they are reluctant to participate in their activities for fear of becoming the targets of separatists or government propaganda.