Investigations report on the alleged maladministration at Upper Hill school

Abstract

Pursuant to its mandate under Section 8 of its constitutive Act, the Commission undertook investigations into the allegations of irregular procurement, underpayment of staff and payroll falsification, misuse of school fundraising and official misconduct by the Principal Upper Hill School. The investigations were prompted by two complaints received from some employees of the School against the Principal and the Ministry of Education dated 26th November 2018 and 24th December 2018 respectively. The complainants alleged that; the Principal Mr. Benjamin Ngahu awarded a tender for the supply of firewood to Staexcom Ltd, a company that did not participate in the tendering process; the Principal uses proxy companies to supply goods and services to the school; the Principal initiated fundraising for projects that were never defined, budgeted for or any estimate given to parents; and underpayment of salaries, falsification of the payroll and misappropriation of school funds. The Commission notified the Principal Secretary, Ministry of Education, Science and Technology of its decision to investigate the alleged maladministration in Upper Hill School vide a letter, Ref: CAJ/IE/6/74/19 (18) dated 12th March, 2019. On the allegations of irregular procurement of firewood, it was established that two companies submitted bid documents for the supply of firewood, namely Rapela and Company Firewood Suppliers and Foreman Store and Fabricators Limited. Rapela and Company Firewood Suppliers was recommended by the technical evaluation committee for the award of the tender owing to the fact that they quoted the lowest price, had NEMA certificate and were deemed reliable as previous suppliers of firewood to the school. Instead, Staexcom Company Limited which was not among the original bidders, was awarded the tender on the basis of favorable credit period, market rate pricing and quality of firewood. In relations to the underpayment of salary and payroll falsification, it was noted that non-teaching staff of the school were employed under Board of Management (B.O.M.) Terms which determined the salary scale and other allowances. This was not in line with salary structure for civil servants. This anomaly was the underlying issue that triggered the allegation of salary underpayment and falsification of pay roll. The allegation of misuse of school fundraising for infrastructural projects was being investigated by the Ministry of Education. Therefore, it was deemed First Draft appropriate not to dwell on this aspect of the complaint as originally envisaged in order to allow for the ongoing probe to proceed to its logical conclusion.