An investigation will be carried out on the education department to establish the legitimacy of contract dealings undertaken by officers of the department.
This investigation was ordered by the Acting Finance Minister James Marape today, following claims by contractors that money earmarked for their contract payments have been diverted for other use. He also made it clear that there was no money appropriated by the department in 2013 for infrastructure projects in NCD as claimed. On Saturday, contractors engaged to carry out infrastructure work on schools in NCD demanded an explanation from the Education Secretary after they were informed that there was no money to pay them for their services. Today, education secretary Dr Philip Tapo made it known that there was no money appropriated for infrastructure in both the 2013 and 2014 budget, and the claims that K200 million was allocated this year were not true. Education Minister, James Marape, supported the secretary’s remarks and called on contractors to expose names of officers involved in making contract dealings for various projects in NCD when there was no money appropriated. As the Finance Minister, he confirmed that there was no money allocated in 2014 for education infrastructure and called on contractors to either take this matter to court and the department will pay when ordered to, or to wait for the investigation to be completed. That’s when genuine contractors will be identified and paid while those pretending and submitting claims for less or no work can face the consequences. One contractor put his hands up to name officers involved in making corrupt deals with them by awarding contracts. Secretary Tapo warned schools to be careful in awarding contracts and they should do so using their project and tuition free fees. EMTV Comments are closed.
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