Schools face levy audits

“A variety of issues, mainly mismanagement of funds, came to my attention and as a ministry we have no option except to institute probes into those allegations.

“The audits are covering the whole country and anyone caught on the wrong side of the law will be prosecuted and we have a lot of examples where people have been arrested and jailed for abusing public funds, most of which come from poor parents.”
Minister Coltart’s deputy Dr Lazarus Dokora said the Government had formed audit units to deal with mismanagement of school funds.
He said when approached by audit teams, headmasters and SDC officials should co-operate.

“During this blitz, the auditors are just pouncing on the schools without notice and we expect anyone confronted by the auditors to be very co-operative because they have been given the powers to do so.
“The auditors simply want to correct focus between the way public funds are used and accounted for,” he said.

Dr Dokora added: “Most school heads are not following normal procedures when buying certain products.
“In the audits, you will discover that most misdemeanors are as a result of SDC members who are pushing our heads into the corner and in some cases it is our heads who are over enthusiastic.”

Most school officials loot funds by generating invoices with inflated prices of goods and learning materials they buy.
In some cases, the school administrators use fake quotations.
The school administrators work jointly with suppliers who pay them the difference after schools make their payments.

Some of the companies that schools purported to be dealing with were briefcase firms.
Some teachers have gone on strike protesting non-payment of incentives and mismanagement of school fees by headmasters.
The payment of incentives to teachers by parents has also contributed to the increase in corruption at most schools.

Minister Coltart said the Government was crafting new regulations to end the embezzlement of school funds.
The regulations will ensure compliance with existing procedures in raising fees and levies.
He said the new regulations would distinguish between the role of school development committees and school authorities.