In the media

The South African government has identified 8,854 high-risk cases in its effort to eliminate ghost work in the public sector. In its process to verify all its employees, the highlighted cases were identified to show payment irregularities that need to be clarified in an outstanding audit. As part of the efforts to address this issue, the Education Labour Relations Council is undertaking physical verification of teachers and learners in order to identify possible ghost teachers and ensure spending efficiency.

The Federal Government has unveiled a landmark initiative aimed at entrenching transparency, accountability, and efficiency in Nigeria’s tertiary education system with the official launch of the Federal Government Tertiary Institution Governance and Transparency Platform (FTIGTP). The initiative will serve as a unified digital platform providing real-time access to accurate data and financial information across all tertiary institutions in Nigeria. The platform aims not only to strengthen public confidence but also improve efficiency in the management of educational resources and foster innovation.

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) of Kenya has arrested five individuals from key public institutions for fraudulently securing public sector jobs or benefits using forged academic documents. The Commission will pursue criminal charges and civil recovery of illegally earned salaries. They also urged public institutions to strengthen credential verification to prevent fake qualifications.

The national Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) uncovered a widespread corruption within the Ghana Education Service (GES), involving fake schools, forged appointments, and ghost staff. The scheme included individuals using laptops with forged signatures to issue fake appointment letters. A joint investigation recovered GH₵106,000 (approx. $8,150) from convictions and saved GH₵34,249,737.60 (approx. $2.63M) by removing ghost names from the government payroll.

Ghana's Education Minister tasked the newly inaugurated Governing Council of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana (ICAG), to actively combat corruption. The Council was urged to expose financial irregularities like over-invoicing and under-invoicing. Emphasizing transparency, accountability, and integrity, the Minister called upon accountants to enforce professional standards and lead national discussions on financial misconduct.

An investigation in Tanzania reveals a rising number of bureaus and individuals who make their living by writing dissertations and research reports for postgraduates and undergraduates. This form of academic dishonesty is widespread among postgraduate students, most of whom are employed in the public as well as private sectors.

Zero Corruption Campaign (ZCC), a civil society organisation that focuses on promoting integrity, accountability, and transparency in the services of public sector institutions, has warned the country’s school authorities to stop collecting money as additional fees for students pursuing their education in 2022/2023. The ZCC said such practices were tantamount to corruption and a deliberate attempt to undermine quality free school education.

Over 2,000 primary school teachers from about 27 local government areas of Oyo State protested on what they described as monumental frauds being perpetrated by some officials of the state in connivance with some State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) officials. In Ibadan North Local Government alone, about 109 teachers claimed that the fraudulent state officials fleeced them over N54m from illegal deductions made from their salaries.

Education Minister this morning made her first pretrial appearance in the Windhoek High Court in the case in which she is facing a charge of corruption. She is due to be prosecuted on allegations that she corruptly used her office as Hardap governor in December 2014 to place the names of two of her family members on a list of beneficiaries for the mass housing development programme at Mariental.

Following a directive in late-2016 of the President of the 5th-Phase Government of Tanzania, verification (by a Special Presidential Task Force) of the academic credentials of reportedly 400 035 civil servants who draw emoluments from Government coffers unearthed much rot! The probe revealed that 9,932 public service employees got where they are today on the back of educational certificates which were either forged outright, borrowed, bought or stolen.