Massive theft at Mkwawa University!

[Nzowa Godat]

THE Parliamentary Public
Organization Accounts
Committee (POAC) has formed
a probe team comprising three
legislators to investigate fraud
at Mkwawa University College
of Education after discovery of
massive theft of money.
This come two days after a
Loans Board official, Ester
Budili was arraigned at Kisutu
Resident Magistrate's Court
for theft of 90m/- through
creation of "ghost" students
and employees in nine
universities. The fraud
involved forging of real names
of students supposed to
receive loans from the
Students Loans Board and
payment of salaries to non-
existent employees on pay-
rolls.
The legislators picked to probe
the fraud at Mkwawa College
are Zainabu Kawawa (CCM),
Mwibara Kangi Lugola (CCM)
and Ali Khamis Seif (CUF). The
MPs would probe the link
between the university and
the Loans Board with regard
to the fraud. The investigation
might also be extended to
other universities.
Addressing journalists shortly
after meeting with the
university management, POAC
Chairman Mr Zitto Kabwe said
the total amount from the
Loans Board paid out to 32
ghost students from the
university was 66m/-. Mr
Kabwe said the committee has
refused to continue with
briefing of the report until the
investigations were
completed, noting that the
university management might
be called again in Dodoma.
Apart from the fraud linking
the Loans Board and the
university, the committee also
questioned payments of
salaries to ghost workers as
well as illegal procurement.
"The current budget for
students loans in the country
is about 250bn/- and the
number of students is
increasing, making us wonder
if the government can sustain
this. Now we cannot sit by and
let crooks swindle the
government," he admonished.
The Committee's Deputy
Chairman, Mr Deo
Filikunjombe said the list of
students' names clearly
showed that they had been
technically altered. However,
what was disturbing is the
similarity of the names to the
real names of students who
received loans. "The
registration and index
numbers are the same; they
have only altered one name of
each student on the list," he
explained.
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Mr Kabwe noted that Mkwawa
University is leading the pack
in submitting fake student
names to the Loans Board.
The university's governing
board was also blasted for
awarding tenders without
taking into account the lowest
evaluation costs. Reading the
Controller and Auditor
General's (CAG) report, Mr
Kabwe noted that goods and
services worth 1.2bn/- were
bought without observing legal
procurement procedures.
Another amount totalling
152m/- did not have
supporting documents, dating
back to 2006/2007.
The university's governing
board had a hard time
responding to the allegations,
with one member noting that
it was a small problem that the
university was working on to
rectify. Members of the
committee queried whether it
was a normal thing to conduct
payments without relevant
documents, noting that the
CAG's reports clearly indicated
problems in the procurement
process.
"The CAG reports tells us
clearly that there is a problem
in the university's
procurement process but the
management says it's not a big
problem; let them tell us what
are these small problems. This
issue must be investigated
thoroughly, we need to get to
the root of the problem," they
noted. The university's
Principal, Prof Philemon Mushi
said the problem noted in the
CAG's report is being rectified
in current procurement
process.