We welcome the ministry's decision - belated as it is.
We say belated because a lot of the rot that the DCEC would have investigated and exhumed would have been there for many years. The director of the department, who was only transferred there in December, the assistant director and their entire staff, may not even have a clue about the mess in the department. In any case most of the officers are junior officers not responsible for making decisions.
Why did it take so long for government to realise that something needed to be done at the department? A 2004 report pointed out many irregularities that needed to be investigated at the department. The government did nothing. Six years later, the government suddenly wakes up to the reality and shuts the department. That reality was there when non-qualifying students were sent to universities abroad it was there when many students with 'connections' found themselves smiling all the way to the airport, en route to some university abroad, when they never applied as they knew they did not meet the government criteria for sponsorship. The 2004 report also revealed that there were many misplaced files at the department, which could have jeopardised the future of some students. More than that the department has been reported many times to be funding hundreds of "ghost" students. If from among those interdicted, junior officers are also found guilty, it will be an indication of just how well corruption at the department was allowed to fester. What should the nation expect if a minister could issue an instruction for a student to be sponsored against the advice of officers? If previous ministers as administrative heads of department failed, maybe not necessarily corrupt themselves, we would expect their failures to trickle down to their junior and their junior's juniors. The problem at the department therefore should not be seen as a problem unique to it. What role has the Ministry itself played in creating the state of affairs at the department? We refuse to believe that over so many years, there has not been a single officer who advised the ministry about the problems besieging the department. Our guess is such advice was overruled. How else do you explain the time it has taken government to finally wake up?
