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Tanzania’s universities is having trouble with ghosts. The government has suspended student loans worth TZS3.2 billion (US$1.5 million), affecting around 2000 students. This came after a routine verification exercise revealed that some who signed up for loans may not even exist. In a country of more than 100 000 registered tertiary students, 2000 “ghosts” may not seem like a big problem. But when the loan money is being misspent, deliberately or because of poor administration, the entire higher education system is affected, and ultimately the country.

According to the Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, curbing corruption in higher learning financing systems is a long term effort that must be given strategic importance and adequate resources. This was said during the Annual Conference and General Meeting of the Association of African Higher Education Agencies in Dar es Salaam. The meeting, which was attended by several higher learning Chief Executive Officers from several African countries, also brought together stakeholders from the education sector.

A total of 4,827 'ghost' pupils have been identified in Sengerema and Buchosa districts following a special audit. According to the Sengerema District Commissioner a total of 41 head teachers have been suspended in connection to the investigation. 710 of the pupils come from Sengerema district while 4,117 pupils were identified from Buchosa. The Sengerema District Education officer said his office will conduct frequent inspections to identify ghost students.

Tanzania has suspended student loans amounting to TZS3.2 billion (US$1.5 million) affecting over 2,000 students, some of whom are believed to be non-existent as they failed to show up during a verification exercise. Media reports said the two-month-long exercise carried out twice was to confirm that the students who were benefiting through the Tanzania’s Higher Education Students’ Loans Board, or HESLB, at various institutions of higher learning actually existed and were legitimate students.

The Rukwa Region has identified 2,408 students from public primary and secondary schools as ghost students following the recent verifications. The Rukwa Region Commissioner (RC), briefed the Prime Minister from the regional development reports in Namanyere Town , Nkasi District. The premier was further told that Rukwa Region continued to put into action the directives of the President by undertaking thorough verification of phantom students in all public primary and secondary schools in the region.

Public institutions have until next Friday to submit reports on investigations they have conducted on ghost workers, according to the Minister of State in the President's Office (Public Service Management and Good Governance). She noted that in the coming few days she would hand over the final report on ghost workers to the President, comprising reports filed by all public institutions ordered to conduct the audit. She said that as of yesterday, her office had received reports from 264 out of 409 institutions, of which 63 indicated that they did not have ghost workers.

Rorya District Executive Director (DED), has underscored the need for various schools in the country to acquire some skills on the recently introduced Procurement ACT to enable them follow thoroughly the procurement procedures and avert public funds embezzlement. The call was echoed by the DED in a full council meeting whereby the session was informed that over 100m/- allocated to Buturi Secondary School had been embezzled and so far no arrest had been made.