North-West Mayors accused of embezzling back-to-school funds

The North West Regional delegate of Basic Education Wilfred Wambeng Ndong has warned mayors of councils in the region who have received the government’s financial and material support for effective school resumption to guard against attempted embezzlement and mismanagement of the public funds.

Wilfred Wambeng Ndong in an interview with state media hinted that an inspection team from Yaounde has already visited some councils in the region where concerns about the mismanagement of government’s sponsored assistance for education have been raised.

Some council officials in the region are complaining that the yearly assistance referred to as the minimum package is inadequate.

In the Bamenda, I, and III municipalities, close to 20 schools have been earmarked to benefit from the financial allocation from the government for the 2021/2022 academic year.

“The Bamenda I Council has received a minimum package of 3.6million which cannot even be sustainable within the Bamenda I municipality because of the many schools that are operational in the area”, the stores accountant of the council said.

The North West delegate for Basic Education, Wilfred Wambeng Ndong suggested that to tackle the difficulties of uneven distribution and corruption, the financial resources reserved should be proportionate to the learners’ demographics.

Timfuchi Aaron