Queen of Pop Madonna’s decision to discontinue the building of a school in Malawi has angered the residents of the village near the planned site who say that they were “duped” into giving up their land for the project.
The 52-year-old singer had planned to build a school in the village of Chinkhota, close to the capital of Lilongwe through her ‘Raising Malawi’ charity but scrapped the project earlier this week amid allegations of financial mismanagement, reported Contactmusic.
The pop diva had pledged to build an all girl’s school after adopting her two children, Mercy and David, from the poverty stricken African nation and her failure to comply has drawn huge criticism from the residents, who parted with their land in the hope of job opportunities due to the project.
“I used to have a maize garden here but I was told to make way for the school. We agreed to give up the land because we hoped we will get some employment… but we have been duped,” said Grevansio Makina, 42.
The village leader Chief Chinkhota adds, “I don’t know what to tell my people for it was me who convinced them to give up their land. Now they think I fooled them… Maybe I should just give the land back to the owners. But my hands are tied since we gave the land to the government, that in turn gave it to Madonna. We don’t know what to do.”