Abuse of Midlands BSPZ funds

The Editor

REFFERENCE:-

CORRUPTION, FRAUD AND GROSS ABUSE OF PUBLIC FUNDS (BSPZ) AT MINISTRY OF PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION MIDLANDS PROVINCIAL OFFICE IN GWERU.

We are writing to you as concerned members of staff based at the education provincial office in the midlands province and as parents of children who go to different schools around the province. We would like to express our deep concern and bring to your attention to the high levels of corruption that is taking place at the Midlands Primary & Education Office, Government Complex in Gweru involving the grant looting of public funds which is being carefully orchestrated by senior education officials.

We would urge you to publish this so that this rote is exposed to the general public of the midlands province who contribute to the BSPZ fund through the payment of school fees and levies for their children attending schools in different parts of the province.

For the record, this corruption has been going on unabated for a long time but now appears to have escalated to unprecedented levels. As both members of staff and contributors to this abused fund through the payment of fees for our children at local schools, we believe that it is essential to bring this matter to your attention in the hope that these shenanigans are exposed.

1. Abuse / Misappropriation of Better Schools Programme Funds(BSPZ).

We will start by giving a brief background of the fund so that you contextualize where we coming from so that you may be able to get a deeper understanding of our grave concerns.

The funds that we refer to in this letter of complaint is known as The Better Schools Program Zimbabwe (BSPZ) fund. This is a fund that was initiated by Ministry of Education with the sole purpose of improving the quality of education in schools through:-

1. Providing Access to Educational Resources to pupils and Teachers in schools, eg Making available reading materials and appropriate teaching and learning materials for teachers and pupils.
2. Provide teachers with duplicating, photocopying, reproduction, typing and other such services.
3. Providing fully equipped resource centers at Provincial, District and Cluster level which would benefit pupils, teachers and the wider community.
4. To conduct cluster based staff development for teachers and pupils
5. Equipping resource centers with ICT materials and equipment.
6. Training Teachers and School Headmasters through refresher courses.

The list goes on and is confined to improving/ bettering the standard of education in schools in the midlands province.

WHO FUNDS THE PROGRAMME?

What is most disturbing is that the programme fund is wholly funded by parents through the payment of school fees. Every school in the midlands province is forced to remit a certain amount /percentage of the school fees that each pupil pays to the Provincial Education Better Schools Programme Account ostensibly for the support of educational development and improvement of schools in the Midlands Province but ALAS! This appears not to be the case.

ABUSE OF THE FUND AT THE MIDLANDS EDUCATION PROVINCIAL OFFICE.

It is quite disconcerting that almost 95% if not all of the fund is being used for non BSPZ activities.  Instead of directing the funds for the purpose that the fund was intended, it is astounding to note that this fund is being used for lining the pockets of senior education officials based at the provincial office taking advantage of their power and authority. The fund is being abused in the following ways among others:-

1. A well orchestrated plan has been put in place by the senior officials where these funds are being siphoned big time through purchases of fuel which is shared amongst them for their personal use.

What is really shocking and astonishing is that a total amount of USD $26 000-00 has so far been siphoned from this fund and shared amongst these officials for non other than their personal use.  

Ironically, all supervision of and monitoring of programmes in schools have been practically suspended as vehicles at the provincial office are grounded as there is no fuel for operations and funds for servicing of the vehicles.

This is in fact is a substantial amount considering that the fund struggles to raise such high amounts. We were made to understand that this was condition of service fuel. Honestly, that should be the responsibility of their employer and not pupils/parents.

 Surely the indigent pupils and poor parents cannot be made to meet the employer obligations. It may not be surprising that the same officials could be double dipping in this regard. Our private investigations indicate that these same officials are also getting their condition of service fuel from Government on a monthly basis. A simple investigative audit of the fund should unearth this unashamed corruption.

• The fund is wholly controlled by the directors at the office. This is an outright contravention of the funds constitution which clearly states that a management committee which includes Business Partner representatives, other government department’s representatives and Religious leader’s representatives should be in charge of the fund.

•  Disturbingly, some of the funds are directed for funeral assistance of the senior officials. Notably is an amount USD $1500-00 that was paid as funeral assistance towards the purchase of groceries for a funeral of a director who passed on recently. An amount of USD $1000-00 was also used for the same purpose when the provincial education director lost her sister. Apparently, the same does not apply when there is bereavement for those in lower grades. A thorough audit will open a can of worms in this regard.

• The bulk of the fund is used for payment of  subsistence allowances (T & S) when these senior officials go out for their very frequent senior management meetings.

• Also baffling is the rate at which this fund is being used for purchasing food and lunches for the directorate.

Whenever a meeting of any nature is convened (by who so ever) at the Midlands education offices, all directors and their deputies get lunches regardless of whether they have or have not attended the meetings including those who may be away from duty at the time.

We fail to understand what is better schools in all this expenditure???? .These expenditures are not only unconstitutional but merely driven by greed and avarice on the part of senior officials at the province.

CONCLUSION

Ironically, the Midlands province and all its districts have not constructed a single Better Schools Programme Resource Centre using the BSPZ funds. This in spite of the huge amounts that have been collected from pupils/parents over the years. There is no single capacity development programme that has been funded by the programme. All capacity development proposals submitted to the provincial education director are turned down ostensibly for lack of resources.

The provincial office is run down and has a serious shortage of equipment and tools for use by staff members seriously compromising service delivery. A total of 67 staff members based at the provincial office are making use of only two printers and a few desktops that are now obsolete and extremely slow. We were made to understand that a recent request to purchase laptops and printers for a few members of staff in order to avert the crisis currently bedeviling  the office was turned down, opting instead to purchase fuel worth USD$15 000-00 for personal use for directors and their deputies. Apparently this fuel is converted to cash which in our opinion is clear conversion of public funds for personal gain..This is just beyond illogicality.   

Honestly how can such opulence be tolerated from a fund which parents toil to raise in the hope of improving their children’s education.

Suffice to mention that a number of instances have been recorded where children, right from the little ones at ECD level of education are sent home/chased from school for non-payment of school fees. Some of these children manage to raise the fees later on, but unfortunately after losing their precious learning time only to have what they pay being used for the self enrichment of a few senior education officials. This to us is surely day light robbery of money contributed by parents of children attending school in different parts of the Midlands province and in my opinion a flagrant abuse of office on the part of accounting officer.

 We would like therefore to urge your popular news channel to conduct a thorough investigation into the matters raised and expose to the public the level of corruption taking place at the highest education office in the midlands province. It is our hope that this exposure will result in the recovery of some of these misused funds so that they are channeled towards their intended use and to prevent any future abuse of funds meant to enhance the learning of pupils.

WORRIED PARENTS