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Education board ordered to account for 700m/-
2006-02-02 08:41:23
By Boniface Luhanga, Shinyanga
Prime Minister Edward Lowasa yesterday ordered the Shinyanga Regional Education Board to account for how it spent 700m/- it was given by the government in the 2004/5 financial year for education development in the area.
Subsequently, the board was given 21 days to account for the money. The premier, who was on a four-day tour of the region also directed the board to find a way of accommodating 65.8 per cent of the pupils who had passed Standard VII examinations to secondary school.
Lowasa gave the directives when he toured the region to assess the food situation, which has worsened following prolonged drought that has severely affected food production in most parts of the country.
Regional Education Board Chairman Constantine Shilingi angered the PM when failed to plausibly account for the 700m/-.
The PM said that, had the money been spent properly, many pupils who did the STD VII examination last year would have joined secondary school.
Lowasa directed the board chairman to meet with members of parliament from Shinyanga led by Bariadi-West MP, Andrew Chenge and probe any financial fiddling by the board.
He told the officials to submit a report to him directly.
One of the board officials had told the PM’s entourage that some of the money was used to pay debts that had been accumulated between 2001 and 2005.
He said the region paid 24. 9m/- to the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) and 73.8m/- to unspecified creditors.
The official said the board also paid consultants 54.7m/-, 8.7m/- in terminal benefits to retiring employees, 47.9m/- was paid out as over-time allowance and 215.8m/- to unspecified creditors.
Overall, the official said, 103.4m/- was spent on administration activities and 696m/- on development activities.
The board chairman defended the expenditures saying even if the money had been directed to education development, the pupils who missed admission in secondary schools would not have been enrolled.
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