Scholarship scandal
Solomon Islands Government Scholarships may have been secretly sold to certain members of the public.
It is believed, the act involved a number of staff within the National Training Unit of the Education Ministry.
Sources close to SIBC revealed, a number of people had spent up to $5,000 dollars for scholarship awards, paid in hard cash collected by certain NTU staff.
It is believed, the former NTU Director Mr. Clement Tito’s reshuffled this week could be related to the scandal.
It was also believed that a number of government officials had been dealing with a particular officer within NTU to obtain scholarship awards for their children and relatives.
Our source revealed, a number of students who had been formally awarded with scholarships had not received their awards while those who were not even in the formal list have been prioritized and sent to Laucala,Fiji.
A female student from the Solomon Islands National University told SIBC News, she wanted to give $4,000 for scholarship award to an officer from the NTU but was refused unless she gave five thousand dollars.
Meanwhile, a number of people testified through the national voice, they had to pay handsomely for their relatives’ scholarship awards this year.
Meanwhile, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development Dr Franco Roddie confirmed receiving reports of the 2019 scholarship scandal.
The Permanent Secretary said evidences channeled through his office were being compiled.
He said, the Ministry’s internal audit had been sanctioned to conduct an investigation into the report.
PS Roddie urged concerned individuals who hadinformation about the matter to provide the names of NTU officers who demanded payment for scholarship.
The PS confirmed, Mr. Clement Tito’s reshuffle was not connected to the allegation but a normal reshuffle.
By: Charlie Salini.