STAFF REPORTER
ONLY one percent of the total number of students who are given loans by the Namibia Students Financial Assistance Fund (NSFAF) are paying back their dues,Auditor General Junias Kandjeke has said.
According to a report released to parliament this week NSFAF only managed recoveries of N$ 18 million which is less than 1% of total student debtors owing the Fund.
“The Fund has been ineffective in collecting student debts resulting in a risk of the Fund not achieving its strategic objective. The majority student debtors are many years in arrears and the records did not affirm that the students have been contacted as required in an effort to remedy the defaulting or to determine the reason for the delayed payments,”Kandjeke said.
The Auditor General said the fund does not have approved Standard Operating Procedures Procedure manuals place, despite having adopted the International Public Sector Accounting Standards Framework for the financial period 31 March 2022 to 2024.
“Additionally, there are Standard Operating Procedures Procedure (SOPS) manuals, which are still in draft phase and that have not yet been approved and adopted by the Fund. The SOPs are outdated (last revised in 2017) – we are currently in 2024, some of reference employees may have resigned, for example previous Chief Executive Officer , Chief Financial Officer referenced thereon,” Kandjeke said.
Kandjeke said the standard operating procedures issued by NSFAF does not clearly describe the process flow from initiation until the recording phase
He flagged an anomaly between N$ 298 758 invoiced by Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) and the statements provided by the NSFAF during a third party verification test.
“ Based on these differences the auditors anticipate a projected misstatement of N$ 17 550 520 from the tested samples that were misstated.
“The above is as a result of a lack of adequate reviewing and verification of invoices received from
tertiary institutions against student statements for payment,” Kandjeke said.
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