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Insider lifts lid on rot in Education ministry
What you need to know:
- Rotten. The rot involves officials employing ghost staff, abusing office, stealing government property, inflating school enrollment, receiving allowances for no work done, bribing and colluding with auditors to circumvent queries, irregular recruitment and nepotism, among other things.
Kampala. Leaked audit reports and insider accounts seen by Saturday Monitor implicate senior ministry of Education officials in massive corruption, abuse of office, fictitious procurements and embezzlement of public resources, with allegations pointing to years of abuse and a system of entrenched impunity.
Some of these allegations, this newspaper understands, were presented to the Inspector General of Government (IGG) through petitions, including one by Mr Martin Muhanga, a senior internal auditor in the same ministry, written on June 11 and received by the IGG’s office on June 14.
Mr Muhanga confirmed to Saturday Monitor that he had indeed petitioned the IGG over the matter, but declined to discuss it with us, saying that he needed permission from the Permanent Secretary to speak to the media.
Sources at the ministry of Education indicate that Mr Muhanga fell out with hierarchy after he refused to toe the line and seemed to ask questions that some of his bosses did not want asked. We have learnt that whereas he is still an employee of the ministry, he has been locked out of his office and currently has no workstation.
Information obtained by this newspaper shows well-connected cartels both within and outside the ministry are minting billions of shillings at the expense of poor students and teachers who would otherwise have benefitted from the various mismanaged projects.
Saturday Monitor has seen details of audit reports and queries that were swept under the carpet to shield those involved in the alleged corruption. From the information available to us, it appears, the political leadership of the ministry is either out of touch with what is happening or has been outsmarted by the civil servants.
Organised network?
The allegations involve officials employing ghost staff, abusing office, stealing government property, inflating school enrolment, receiving allowances for no work done, bribing and colluding with auditors to circumvent queries, irregular recruitment and nepotism, among other things.
A source told Saturday Monitor that there is a culture of silence and a brotherhood of sorts that has been nurtured in the ministry for the last at 20 years, with the unwritten rule being that every official must cover for another to the point of ensuring that even the Auditor General cannot uncover the abuse in the ministry.
New recruits, our source said, are inducted into the culture and those who refuse to join are slowly hounded out, framed or frustrated.
Locally generated money and donor funds is not spared, with many projects, according to audit reports, having little to show for the monies spent.
It is a network that has long arms and legs from State House where officials use connections to get their way to the business community and to other government ministries, departments and agencies such as the Ministry of Finance, the Solicitor General and the police, among other places. For example, those who make “noise” are summarily transferred.
The latest and still brewing scandal involving alleged swindling of public resources touches “irregular” payments to Mott McDonald Ltd, a global management, engineering and development consultancy for the review of the Education Sector ECD Policy and Operational standards. The firm was contracted to do the work under the Uganda Teacher and School Effectiveness Project supervised by the World Bank at a cost of $1.3m (Shs5b).
In a meeting called by the minister of State for Primary Education, Ms Rosemary Sseninde, on February 27, it was revealed that the consultant was being paid without doing the work.
According to the terms of reference and appointment letter signed by Mr Alex Kakooza, the Permanent Secretary (PS), the technical reference committee was supposed to oversee the work of the consultant and then approve the work for onwards payments.
“Instead Dr Daniel Nkaada, the commissioner for Basic Education, the assistant commissioner PEE and the contract manager, were bypassing the Technical Reference Committee and giving certificates of acceptance without first presenting the consultants work to the committee. This move was well worked out with the support of the assistant commissioner for Internal Audit, Mr Wycliffe Mugume and the senior Internal Auditor, Ms Sukie Bainomugisha, who worked together to rubberstamp payments to the consultant without sharing this work with any other auditor in the unit, despite the Internal Audit unit having other seven officers,” Mr Muhanga says in his petition to the IGG.
He adds: “This was done in full knowledge of the Permanent Secretary, who in a number of informal meetings, had been informed of this flaw but did not act. The consultant has been paid up to Milestone Four, yet the technical reference can only account for Milestone One, according to the contract manager’s report presented in the meeting called by Minister Sseninde.”
Inflated school enrolment
Sources say an individual was hired by a cartel in the ministry and his sole job is to inflate the numbers of students across schools to the benefit of the cartel. The planning department of the ministry, specifically the statistics unit, is cited as having taken the lead on this.
In Mr Muhanga’s petition to the IGG, some of the schools cited as having inflated student numbers include Kisozi Progressive in Kamuli, Millennium High in Hoima, Bulluge Comprehensive High in Lira, Central College Kabibiiri, Dynamic SSS, Kasawo Islamic, all in Mukono and Buheesi SSS in Kabarole, among others.
In the Financial Year 2015/16, for example, the ministry’s planning department reported enrolment of 3,954 students in Buheesi Secondary School, yet the school had only 786 students.
“The school received [Shs]439,092,403 that officers at the ministry were supposed to share, I learnt from my source. When I raised the matter, the assistant commissioner Internal Audit, working with officers like principal planner Nelson Wanabi, and Mr Derrick Namisi, a senior economist, frustrated my efforts to carry out investigations because when such money goes to schools, it instead returns for them to share,” Mr Muhanga says in his petition.
Inflated school purchase
In another move, Permanent Secretary Kakooza, allegedly working with Ms Jane Nantale Ssekikubo, Dr Nkaada and the acting head of the Procurement Unit in the ministry, plus some officers in the ministry of Lands and the office of the Solicitor General, have been accused of orchestrating a move to purchase three acres of school land in Kiwanga, Mukono District at Shs2.5b.
The owner of the land, a one Ssegane, is reported to have asked for Shs500m only for the chief government valuer’s report to indicate Shs2.5b. The PS has, according to our sources, not carried out a market survey as required under the PPDA act.
“In addition, Ms Ssekikubo has been known for sale and purchase of school lands within the ministry because she holds the schedule and because of the fruits that come with this job, she has overstayed in the ministry, although she is transferable officer like any other common cadre,” Mr Muhanga says.
Stolen donor funds
Between 2008 and 2017, the Dutch government supported Uganda with €22m (Shs98.2b) to revitalize education service delivery in Lango and Acholi sub-regions. Available audit report indicate gross mismanagement of the project, with little to show for the billions of the donor money spent on the same.
“There are many incomplete structures and Dr Nkaada, the former assistant commissioner accounts, the acting assistant commissioner Management Unit Jimmy Lubwama, Ms Doreen Matovu and PS Kakooza and Mr Mugume covered up the rot by clearing the matter when it came up for audit review because they want to protect their friends,” Mr Muhanga writes.
Expensive padlocks
Another issue that has been raised involves inflated costs of 9,200 padlocks which were purchased at more than double the cost of those available on the market. We have seen audit reports and letters pertaining to a market survey, which was carried out and a report written to the PS showing that the price of the padlocks of the tri-circle brand purchased at unit price of Shs19,000 each in reality cost a maximum of Shs8000 each.
The government, according to the audit report, lost at least Shs101.2m in this particular deal. The report also highlights other flaws in the process of procurement and supply under the same contract. PS Kakooza is accused of not responding to the issues raised but instead proceeding to make payment without addressing any of the issues raised in the report.
