Squandering the South Sudanese’s education: UK publishers corruption revealed
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by Toby Collins
July 26, 2011 (LONDON) – One of the world’s leading publishers of
English Language teaching and school curriculum materials “agreed a
civil recovery order of £11.2m (US$17.7m)“, for their actions in South
Sudan, according to their 22 July statement.
JPEG - 68.4 kb
Boys play outside a decaying school in 2010, South Sudan (Small Arms Survey)
Macmillian is a UK publishing company owned by the German Georg von
Holtzbrinck Publishing Group which made US$3,419.6m in 2009.
For paying South Sudanese officials to secure education contracts it
has also been banned from World Bank tenders for at least three years.
Police raided Macmillan’s offices in London in 2010 following a two
year investigation by the Serious Fraud Office, after the World Bank
reported incidents of bribery.
Macmillian has now terminated all its tenders in west and east Africa.
It admitted that a representative of Macmillan Education made
"improper and unauthorised payments" to local officials in South
Sudan, in a bid to win a multimillion dollar contract, which failed.
The contract was to print English language teaching and school
curriculum materials. The tender was part of a US$45.9m project to
develop the school curriculum, train thousands of teachers, build 100
schools and refurbish a further 50.
An EU delegation Juba, on 22 July, emphasised their concerns on the
matter of corruption within the broader terms of the future success of
South Sudan.
The president of South Sudan, Salva Kiir, spoke of his commitment to
stamp out corruption during the independence day celebrations on 9
July.
With power and wealth currently very centralised; an influx of
investment; and a lack of training in government, dissuading people
from the road of corruption will be challenging.
It is estimated that overall the adult literacy rates in South Sudan
is 24% and just 12% for women.
(ST)
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