Education probes scam at ministry

THE Ministry of Education has instituted two investigations into what is believed to be large-scale fraud in the ministry.

This comes 24 hours after President Hifikepunye Pohamba on Thursday singled out the Ministry of Education as one of the ministries that needs to improve its performance.PriceWaterhouseCoopers has been contracted to conduct a forensic audit, while the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) will do a parallel investigation into the ministry’s procurement.The offices of the ministry were put under 24-hour guard to ensure that documents are not removed or tampered with.It is believed that the suspect behind the procurement scam is the relative of a senior minister. The drastic action taken by Education Deputy Minister David Namwandi and his permanent secretary, Alfred Ilukena, comes on the heels of an ongoing investigation by the ACC into salaries paid to ‘ghost teachers’.As a precaution to ensure that evidence is not destroyed, the ACC has already removed some computers and documents from the ministry’s office and the Police will regulate after-hours access to departments implicated in the scam.’This drastic action was triggered last week, after the strengthened measures at the ministry uncovered suspicious incidents where the possibility of rogue companies benefitting from ministerial procurement was uncovered.’’This ongoing investigation has also been reported to Dr Abraham Iyambo and the President,’ Namwandi told The Namibian.It is believed that with the purchase of material for the ministry, quotations would be received from companies belonging to officials at the Ministry. The practice is believed to have been going on for some years, but a single mishap observed by some officials alerted the PS and Namwandi to the fraudulent activities in some departments. ‘In this regard, my minister and I extend our profound thanks and congratulations to the diligent staff whose hard work in the strengthening of internal control by ensuring physical financial prudence detected cases of alleged corruption and fraud that led to the current investigation,’ said Namwandi.’The presence of the Police will ensure that service delivery will, in no way, be disrupted. We promised that it would be business as usual. We have also requested the Ministry of Finance to extend its audit to a forensic investigation into some suspected departments at the head office. ‘PriceWaterhouseCoopers has already been instructed to conduct the forensic auditing. It is also in the best interest of the majority of honest and hardworking staff at the ministry’s headquarters that the few culprits are brought to book so that the quest for quality education can proceed unabated’.Namwandi said the misuse of money allocated to educating Namibian children cannot be tolerated.’Therefore no stone will be left unturned to bring all culprits to book and let the law take its course.’He appealed to staff or the public to come forward with any information that might assist the ministry.The Police presence at the Ministry of Education will only end after the investigations have been completed.