A source has disclosed to the Zambian Business Times – ZBT that the police has arrested about six (6) civil servants that are suspected to be behind the criminal matter where some teachers were allegedly recruited and given ‘fake’ appointment letters.
Some teachers deployed to various public schools across the country but not placed on the government payroll for over a year staged a protest on Monday 8 November 2021 at the Ministry of Education demanding to be addressed and put on payroll.
This protest led to the revelation that about 1,500 teachers have been issued with appointment letters, posted to various provinces but had not been put on the government payroll. Others accused the government officials at the ministry of education of having removed them from the original list and put their own preferred applicants in suspected corruption and nepotism grounds.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with ZBT, the source who is not authorized to publicly speak to the media stated that some of the teachers who were protesting acquired the appointment letters dubiously as they were fake therefore the teachers were not recruited by government.
The source who asked to remain anonymous said investigations are still on going and the police will be able to give more information in due course. Another source stated that the problem is that some officials started selling appointment letters for as high as K10,000 to K15,000. This is what led to the confusion as some genuinely recruited teachers were being removed and replaced with the ones that paid the bribes. This issue is deep and very complicated, the source stated.
The source further revealed that some of the teachers that were protesting were “sponsored” in order to paint a certain picture of the Teaching Service Commission and ministry of education so as to find excuses to get rid of some officers ‘that they did not like’.
“How do you explain some of the protestors coming from as far as Mansa when you say they have not been paid for over a year and don’t have money”, the source said. Look at that video, some of them were even wearing new clothes bought after being paid and were simply sponsored.
The source told ZBT that this issue is more complicated as some of those letters are suspected to be forged, so even some of those protesting teachers should also be investigated as some of them engaged in corruption as they are suspected to have bribed some officers to issue them with appointment letters. Some simply forged their letters to get it. There has to be thorough investigations.
The fight against corruption in Zambia is a complex matter as they are always tainted with insinuations of political interference or counter accusations of tribalism or favoritism. Moreover, the law enforcement agencies delay in executing investigations and subsequent arrests and only acting after media exposures or political instructions.
