COUNTERFEIT CERTIFICATES AND CREATIVE FORGERIES CAUSE PAYMENT DELAYS FOR YOUTH PROGRAMME STIPEND
THE bustling streets of Matero are said to have been busy as typing and printing businesses saw a surge in demand as youths from across Lusaka sought to obtain counterfeit Grade 12 certificates.
Their goal? To gain entry into the Internship, Volunteers, Apprenticeship, and Graduate (IVAG) programme under the Ministry of Youth, Sports, and Arts.
The IVAG programm, designed to provide young people with work experience and reduce unemployment, places individuals in various sectors such as education, health, and defense for a year.
During this period, participants receive a stipend of K1,500 from the government.
However, this stipend, humorously referred to as “kah something,” has been conspicuously absent from the bank accounts of many IVAG participants for four to five months, sparking widespread concern and questions.
In response, Minister of Youth, Sports, and Arts Elvis Nkandu addressed the issue today in a media-covered engagement with the unpaid IVAG participants.
Nkandu began with an apology for the delayed payments and then posed a rhetorical question about when the Examinations Council of Zambia headquarters had moved from Longacres to Matero, alluding to the rampant production of fake certificates in the township.
“Out of the 2000 [youths] we had put in the papers only 1,649 were certified. So what happened to the rest?” Nkandu questioned, “Some of you went to Matero to aquire grade 12 certificates and when we challenged you to take these results to ECZ, a lot of those certificates were manufactured somewhere else.”
Nkandu expressed both amazement and dismay at the lengths some youths went to, including forging the signature of a Permanent Secretary to create counterfeit offer letters.
“There are other people who were not part of the 2000 but forged offer letters. This is how creative and energetic you people are? Forging the signature of the PS.”
The minister explained that the government halted stipend payments to ensure the rightful recipients were identified.
Authorities are now gathering accurate information and plan to resume payments by the end of the month.
“I know we are dealing with young people that are very innovative and creative and we all know that creativity comes in different forms” he joked, “So we thought it was important that we delay to some point so that we ascertain who are in this program.”
“We are conducting a spot check in Muchinga, Southern, Eastern, Central and Western provinces to verify the exact number of active IVAGs in the programme”
By Elesani Phiri
Kalemba