Loans board paid Sh214m to ghost students

Officials from CAG office appear before the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee in Dar es Salaam yesterday.

 PHOTO | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER 

By Frank Kimboy The Citizen Reporter

IN SUMMARY

According to Mr Majura, some of the money was disbursed to students, who were studying abroad. According to him, Sh9.6 million was sent to Peoples Friendship University in Russia while Sh132 million was sent to Universities in Algeria and Cuba.

Dar es Salaam. About Sh214.5 million were disbursed by the Higher Education Students Loans Board (HESLB) to discontinued students and those who had postponed their studies in 2012/2013 financial year.

The deputy Controller and Auditor General, Mr Benja Majura, told the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee yesterday that disbursement was against HESLB’s Lending Manual and Financial Regulations.

Mr Majura and other officials from the CAG office met with PAC members to discuss the CAG 2012/13 Annual General Report as the committee prepares to summon various ministries and public institution to answer queries raised in the report.

“Mr Chairman, HESLB’s Lending Manual and Financial Regulations require the board to disburse loans to continuing students but we have found out that Sh214.5 million were disbursed to discontinued students,” Mr Majura told PAC members.

According to the manual, HESLB is required to consider students’ examination results before releasing the loans. The acting CAG warned that the trend, if left unchecked, might fuel misuse of funds by universities and loss of public funds due to failure by the Board to recover the money from beneficiaries.

According to Mr Majura, some of the money was disbursed to students, who were studying abroad. According to him, Sh9.6 million was sent to Peoples Friendship University in Russia while Sh132 million was sent to Universities in Algeria and Cuba.

Locally, Mr Majura said Sh43.9 million was sent to University of Dodoma (Udom) and the Institute of Finance Management (IFM) received Sh28.9 million.

The acting CAG noted that the audit report also found out that HESLB delayed disbursement of loans to some universities, including Mkwawa University College of Education (Sh440.8 million), Zanzibar State University (Sh70.6 million), and Ruaha University College (Sh89.2 million). The delay in disbursement of loans has been a cause of discontents among students and protests in higher learning institution as the beneficiaries failed to cater for their basic needs
.