Business Reporter
THE Namibia Students Financial Assistance Fund (NSFAF) said it paid a total of N$15 million to One Call Solutions, a company that failed to deliver services to the fund for a period of four years.
NSFAF became a state-owned entity in May 2013 and moved to new premises, ceasing to be a department within the Ministry of Education, Arts, and Culture. As a result, One Call Solutions was contracted to relocate 18,205 student files from the headquarters of the Ministry of Education to NSFAF premises in 2013, as well as to undertake data management services for NSFAF.
The student records, however, never reached their intended location and are unaccounted for, according to Kandume, resulting in the loss of millions of dollars that were loaned out that the fund cannot recoup.
In a quest to get truthful answers, NSFAF’s Acting-Chief Executive Officer, Kennedy Kandume, and other management of the Fund were requested to take an oath before the Committee.
Appearing before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Accounts on October 12, 2023, NSFAF’s Acting Chief Executive Officer, Kennedy Kandume, was questioned about the inner workings of the Namibia Students Financial Assistance Fund in an effort to get answers to a number of issues pertaining to the Fund’s current financial status as the Committee continues probes with NSFAF dating back to 2021, respectively.
The Parliamentary committee, however, expressed dissatisfaction with Kandume’s responses to a number of questions regarding the strategies the fund intends to employ for recovering the missing millions as it relentlessly pursues hundreds of millions in unaccounted for funds. As of March 31, 2023, the total loan book of NSFAF stood at N$12.5 billion, with N$116.8 million recovered. All interest on the loan amounts has been written off as per the president’s directive.
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