Stefanus Nashama
The Namibia Students Financial Assistant Fund (NSFAF) said it paid a total N$15 million to Onecall Solutions, a company that failed to deliver services to the fund for a period of four years.
Appearing before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Accounts yesterday, NSFAF’s Acting Chief Executive Officer, Kennedy Kandume said upon investigating, it was found that OneCall Solutions was failing to deliver as per the agreement.
Kandume who became the Acting CEO of NSFAF in April 2018 said they paid the company and had to terminate the contract with the company after it had failed to honour its contract. Yesterday, Kandume was grilled by the members of the Parliamentary Standing Committee about how NSFAF paid the N$15 million to a company that had failed to deliver services to the fund and how it acquired the tender.
According to Kandume, the company was paid based on the service invoices it provided, however, he could not explain how the company provided those services.
He said there are no documents showing how these services were acquired by the company, adding that it happened some years back before he became the NSFAF Acting CEO.
“This happened way back in 2013, I do not know how the Onecall Solution company acquired those services. I found the company’s concerns there before I became the Acting CEO of NSFAF. I found the company providing services, so I do not know how it acquired them,” he reiterated.
Kandume also told the Parliamentary Standing Committee that the Fund is not financially sustainable and it is struggling to trace debtors and recover debts.
He explained that the business of student funding is not sustainable since interest is not demanded in a small period.
Kandume stated that the Fund has to wait until students complete their studies and secure jobs to pay back the money which takes time.
He said the business of funding students will only be sustainable if interest on loans are done within a reasonable time, which is not the purpose of the government and NSFAF.
Kandume said this has also become a challenge for NSFAF to be fully a sustainable body that can render services to students without financial obstacles.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee has since advised NSFAF to implement better strategies to trace debts and recover the debts.
Kandume revealed that NSFAF has written off some interests.
“Interests accountable up to a certain level were written off some years back. We provide the figure of how much was to be written off to the treasurer,” he said.
Kandume said the Fund is going back to the Ministry of Higher Learning, Training, and Innovation, but they have to take cognition of work to be done including the amendments to be made by Parliament.
However, he indicated that the process of reintegrating back to the Ministry has started and by 31 December 2023, the Fund is expected to be under the Ministry.
