The Ministry of Education and Skills Development has suspended five of its employees over allegations of corruption. The suspended employees were working for the Department of Student Placement and Welfare.
According to one of the suspended employees, allegations against them are that they were paying “ghost students”, adding that these were students who had either dropped from tertiary education or who had long finished studies. It is alleged that they would share the money.
Asked if they have already been charged, an employee, who declined to be named, said that they have so far only been questioned by the Criminal Investigations Officers but have not been charged.
“CID officers have only questioned us and promised us that they will call us again if there is need to do so,” said the employee, adding that they see this as harassment by their bosses and that they have no doubt that they will eventually be reinstated.
“We are all confident we will be reinstated as we have not done anything as has happened in the past when some 15 employees from the same Department were suspended for close to a year on similar allegations only to be reinstated later,” said the employee.
Asked to comment on the issue, the MoE Public Relations Officer, Silas Sehularo, confirmed the suspension but declined to comment further.
”That is all we can say on the matter at the moment as the matter is still new and is still being investigated.”
