ACC Urged To Investigate Procurement Irregularities At Ministry Of Education
Written by Mafken FM Newsroom on 15 October 2024
By Staff Reporter
The National Action for Quality Education in Zambia (NAQEZ) is urging the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to thoroughly investigate the questionable procurement of a non-functional E-census software from M-SAT, a private company.
On 11th April, 2024, the Ministry of Education Headquarters issued a directive to all public and private schools to deposit K800 each into M-SAT’s account for the procurement of the product in question. The expected amount of money from government schools alone was over K8.5 million.
M-SAT was contracted to provide a comprehensive digitalised annual census software to facilitate the Ministry’s collection of educational statistics.
However, the Ministry’s officers who participated in the questionable transaction failed to adhere to the provisions of the Public Procurement Act. The Auditor General’s Report indicates that M-SAT was engaged and paid without any formal procurement processes, which is a serious breach of procedure.
NAQEZ Executive Director Dr. Aaron Chansa says M-SAT failed to provide the necessary training to Ministry of Education staff in seven provinces and by 30th June, 2024, the Ministry had abandoned the software due to its non-functionality.
Mr. Chansa is of the view that given the suspicious nature of this transaction, the ACC should launch a thorough investigation to uncover the truth behind this procurement, further demanding that M-SAT refunds all the schools that contributed K800.
