{"id":32856,"date":"2022-10-17T21:02:28","date_gmt":"2022-10-17T21:02:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/audit-finds-abuse-of-students-loans"},"modified":"2022-10-17T22:25:05","modified_gmt":"2022-10-17T22:25:05","slug":"audit-finds-abuse-of-students-loans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/audit-finds-abuse-of-students-loans","title":{"rendered":"Audit finds abuse of students loans"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Malawi. <\/strong><\/span>An investigative audit report at Higher Education Students Loans and Grants Board (HESLGB) has revealed massive plunder of university students\u2019 loans between the 2019-20 academic year.<\/p>\n

The board\u2019s executive director Prince Phwetekere has confirmed that the organisation instituted the audit and that results were submitted to the office of the Attorney General (AG) for action.<\/p>\n

\u201cAsk the AG\u2019s office for more information,\u201d Phwetekere said.<\/p>\n

While the AG could not immediately comment on the issue, Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Steve Kayuni confirmed that they have engaged investigators, led by Inspector General (IG) of the Malawi Police Service Merlyn Yolamu, to look into the matter.<\/p>\n

He said the investigators will act based on audit recommendations, adding that those found in the wrong will have to account for their actions. \u201cRight to education is enshrined in the Republican Constitution. Stifling it offends all dictates of development and public trust,\u201d Kayuni said.<\/p>\n

The report indicates that, out of K1.3 billion that was disbursed by HESLB, K1.1 billion was disbursed dubiously. The wasted resources represent 90 percent of the amount that poor students were supposed to get.<\/p>\n

The report further indicates that 14 percent was irregularly claimed by universities between 2018 and 2019. The report uncovers that one unregistered university [name withheld] benefitted from the suspicious payments.<\/p>\n

The report states that K590 million was given to the university in question during the time it was not yet registered. According to Section 24(a) of the HESLGB Act, 2015, students registered at the university were ineligible for the loans because the university was not yet accredited.<\/p>\n

On top of that, the amount paid to students at the then-unaccredited university was comparably higher, at K890,000 per semester, than the amount that was supposed to be paid to universities in the same band.<\/p>\n

This shows that not simply was the amount collected dubiously but it was also inflated. In 2018-19, the university in question claimed an amount of K460 million. Meanwhile, Scotland-based economist Velli Nyirongo has said that this is saddening news.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are students out there who dropped out because of university tuition fees while others are plundering the resources allocated to them. There are parents who have been gutted because they couldn\u2019t send their bright children to university\u201d, said Nyirongo<\/p>\n

According to Nyirongo, incidents like this not only deny the present generation of students their God-given right to education but also future students because the student loan fund is supposed to be a revolving fund.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe question is now who will pay for these lost funds, with interest, and considering inflation? Will the responsible people be brought to justice?\u201d Nyirongo queried. Economic analyst Betchani Tchereni said it is disappointing to hear about this<\/p>\n

\u201cI have seen students failing to realise their dream simply because they lack fees, yet some people happily plundered those resources. This is evil at its highest level,\u201d Tcheleni said.<\/p>\n

He said the resources could be used to do a number of things like putting up a number of factories and employing even more people. He said it is important to have the law take its course, adding that this is the type of plunder that has contributed to economic upheavals we are seeing now.<\/p>\n

The audit recommends that the board of directors and management should consider referring the matter to the office of AG for further investigation on fraud and money laundering.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe board of directors and management should consider engaging the National Council for High Education and the Ministry of Education to explore how universities that engage in fraudulent activities should be handled,\u201d audit report recommendations read.<\/p>\n

In July, Malawi Police Service officers arrested HESLGB Loans and Grants Manager Chimwemwe Kaphagawani and Communications Manager Success Sikwese over the alleged theft of about K335 million meant for students\u2019 loans. The two were charged with theft by public servant.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Malawi<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Malawi. An investigative audit report at Higher Education Students Loans and Grants Board (HESLGB) has revealed massive plunder of university students\u2019 loans between the 2019-20 academic year. The board\u2019s executive director Prince Phwetekere has confirmed that the organisation instituted the audit and that results were submitted to the office of the Attorney General […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":32855,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,9,410],"tags":[233,371,1213,3128,5290,234],"class_list":["post-32856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-miscellaneous","category-to-homepage","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-malawi","tag-attorney-general","tag-director-of-public-prosecutions","tag-heslgb","tag-malawi"],"yoast_head":"\nAudit finds abuse of students loans - Malawi<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"An investigative audit report at Higher Education Students Loans and Grants Board (HESLGB) has revealed massive plunder ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/audit-finds-abuse-of-students-loans\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Audit finds abuse of students loans\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An investigative audit report at Higher Education Students Loans and Grants Board (HESLGB) has revealed massive plunder ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/audit-finds-abuse-of-students-loans\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Malawi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-10-17T21:02:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-10-17T22:25:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/malawi\/sites\/36\/2022\/10\/postQueueImg_15-634dd62002851.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"722\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"798\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/audit-finds-abuse-of-students-loans#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/audit-finds-abuse-of-students-loans\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Audit finds abuse of students loans\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-10-17T21:02:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-10-17T22:25:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/audit-finds-abuse-of-students-loans\"},\"wordCount\":652,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/audit-finds-abuse-of-students-loans#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/malawi\/sites\/36\/2022\/10\/postQueueImg_15-634dd62002851.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Malawi\",\"Attorney General\",\"Director of Public Prosecutions\",\"HESLGB\",\"Malawi\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"miscellaneous\",\"to-homepage\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/audit-finds-abuse-of-students-loans#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/audit-finds-abuse-of-students-loans\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/audit-finds-abuse-of-students-loans\",\"name\":\"Audit finds abuse of students loans - 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