Diario Libre continues to follow up on wasteful spending practices at the Ministry of Education. A report on 5 October 2022 reveals that 8,000 employees are said to hold positions based at the Ministry of Education headquarters at Av. Maximo Gomez in Santo Domingo. The auditors told Diario Libre 8,000 employees is an excessive number.
As reported, President Luis Abinader ordered that an audit be carried out after the end of the two years in the position of former Minister Roberto Furcal. President Abinader appointed a new minister, Angel Hernandez in August 2022.
As reported in Diario Libre, more than 20 auditors from the Ministry of Public Administration (MAP) are assessing the payrolls of the Ministry of Education. The team is working under the Deputy Minister Jose Pimentel Valenzuela, in charge of strengthening government institutions at the Ministry of Public Administration. The committee needs to present a report to President Abinader on the payroll situation at the Ministry of Education.
Diario Libre reports that early on the auditors have commented there are numerous persons on the payroll that do not serve a role in the Ministry of Education.
Diario Libre also reports that the Ministry of Education pays the salaries of the Department of Special Programs of the Presidency (Digepeep). This division is now under former Minister of Education Roberto Furcal, named to the position once he was removed from the Ministry of Education in August 2022.
An editorial in Diario Libre today highlights that the preliminary reports by the auditors are part of a long list of evidence of irregularities at the Ministry of Education under former Minister Roberto Furcal. The newspaper asks if there is not going to be a person(s) found guilty of the serious irregularities and calls for the state prosecutors to take action. The newspaper points out that two months after the departure of Furcal there have been claims of major irregularities in the contracting of high school books, the breakfast and school lunches under the Inabie division, the tender for public school desks, and now the payroll. All throughout his administration, there were numerous newspaper headlines on major corruption in tenders and teacher hiring at the Ministry of Education under Furcal.
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Diario Libre
Diario Libre
6 October 2022