A 36-year-old primary school head teacher identified as Hanock Kamanga and a school committee chairperson, Shibisa Chipeta aged 47, have been arrested in Nkhata Bay for allegedly embezzling K11 million meant for construction of the head teacher’s house at Mtazi Primary School .
According to a report filed at the police station, the government through the Ministry of Education introduced construction of houses for head teachers in schools that are in the most rural areas.
Mtazi Primary School where Kamanga works was one of the selected schools that the government through the School Improvement Plan strategy. The school was allocated K17, 000,000 (Seventeen million kwacha) in October 2021 for the school to have a good head teacher’s house.
The head teacher was chairing the process of handling the money from the bank to where the project was being carried out.
Further reports indicate that in the first place, the project monitoring In-Charge was satisfied with how it started until later when he realised that the project stalled.
When the head teacher was quizzed, he failed to give tangible reasons until he was forced to go to the bank on September 15, 2022 to check transactions.
It was then realised that apart from the notable K5, 000,000 (Five million kwacha) that was withdrawn earlier in March, 2022 when the project was just starting, the head teacher in conjunction with the school committee chairperson, was making further withdrawals without the knowledge of officials at the district’s education office until they squandered all the money.
When police interrogated the two at the police station, the head-teacher admitted to have hidden K8, 000,000 (Eight million kwacha) at the pit in the bush within the school yard. Unfortunately, he failed to locate the place to the investigating team. Following this, Kamanga was charged with theft by servant contrary to section 283 of the Penal Code.
Meanwhile, the suspects have been remanded at Nkhata Bay Prison after appearing before court on September 19, 2022 where they denied the charge.
Kamanga hails from Kapalapata Village in Traditional Authority Timbiri while Chipeta is from Chinsana Village Traditional Authority Zilakoma, both in Nkhata Bay District.
