Yirol East: Whistleblower for GESS fund scandal arrested

Authorities in Lakes State have arrested Pagarau Payam Education Supervisor, Mager Achiengwei, who blew the whistle on alleged misappropriation of the Girl Education South Sudan (GESS) funds.

Sources revealed that Mager was arrested on Tuesday morning after he was called by the Director-General of the state Ministry of Education to receive the salary of one of the teachers in his Payam.

The colleagues threatened to reveal all the scandal reports if the authorities failed to release Mager.

“He was arrested in the morning (on Tuesday) after being called by the director-general to receive the incentives for one of the teachers. He was detained by the state security in Rumbek,” said a source who preferred not to be identified for security reasons.

“But if they continue to detain him, we are not going to hide anything again. We will reveal everything that we did not want to report.”

Prior to his arrest, Mager said he was receiving threats from state authorities for revealing the report about the misuse of funds to the media.

“I have been facing threats for posting the report on social media and also talking to the media about the misuse of education funds. They have also detained my salary for the same reason, ” Mager said on Monday before his arrest.

Attempts to reach the state minister of general education and instruction and the director-general in the ministry were futile.

The report

The Lakes State Minister for General Education and Instruction, Kongor Deng Kongor, reportedly dropped the case of the GESS scandal last week, as he had already taken action by reshuffling the county directors in the state.

Sabino Mabor Aleng, who was accused of misusing GESS funds in the county, was transferred to Awerial County as the county director there. The supervisors complained, saying their cases would be dropped because of the transfer and that their needs would not be addressed.

Mager accused Mabor in December of posting on social media a report purporting that girls’ cash transfers had been misused. Some girls were said to have not been paid, and ghost names were considered by some headteachers.

“The community contribution fee of SSP 7.5 million is contributed at 3,500 per child in the school for the whole year so that it can support teachers when salaries are delayed.” This money is given to the director instead of us, the supervisors, collecting it,” he complained.

Mager claimed the county education director and his team took advantage of girls who were absent while the cash transfers were being issued, taking SSP 7.5 million. He also accused the director of selling school bags and blackboards donated to the schools by UNICEF.

“All these things, my brother, I am telling you, he is an old man. I cannot just say words that are not happening. I have to tell you the facts. These things are evidence; even anyone who can come can find out these things, ” he added.

A number of teachers were also reported to not have been paid as the county director claimed that they were added teachers and therefore must not have benefited from impact payment.

The state education minister revealed in an exclusive interview with The City Review that he would investigate the issue so that the truth would be established. But instead, he decided to pardon the accused county director.

Unpaid teachers

The total number of teachers is 81, with each teacher supposed to receive SSP 21400, thus the total unpaid amount of teachers’ salaries said to have been misused by the county education director is 1,733,400.

GESS programme

In November 2021, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) promised to support 930,538 girls in phase II of Girls’ Education in South Sudan (GESS).

USAID, Canada, and the UK, through Phase II, targeted 930,538 girls and over 5,000 schools in order to transfer cash to meet girls’ needs.

In a joint statement, the three pledged continued support for basic education through Phase II of the new Girls Education South Sudan (GESS) agreement.

“Building on the accomplishments of over eight years of GESS, this expanded partnership seeks to improve the life chances of a generation of South Sudanese, with a focus on girls and marginalised children and youth,” read the statement.

 “GESS places a particular emphasis on girls, children with disabilities, and essential support to the education sector in South Sudan. This activity ensures the provision of equitable, accessible, and quality education.”