The president of the Association of Students and Former Scholarship Holders of Higher Education in Angola (AEEBISA), António Armando, admitted evidence of misappropriation of funds from the National Institute for Scholarship Management (INAGBE), given the "unjustifiable excessive delay" in subsidies.
Speaking to Lusa, António Armando stated that all internal scholarship students in Angola have been without their respective subsidies for almost five months – since last October, the start date of the academic year – and admit to holding demonstrations at INAGBE to "demand" the reinstatement of payments.
"The demonstrations have been carried out by students, at this very moment they could carry out new demonstrations, but they have not had any further effect, because it seems that, no matter how much the students demonstrate, the authorities do not," he said.
António Armando stated that there is "suspicion" that "there is evidence of misappropriation of funds [at INAGBE] because [these delays] are not justified".
"The money from scholarship subsidies is money earmarked in the General State Budget (OGE)," he argued, highlighting that the State has been making these subsidies available since the beginning of the year "and, therefore, it is not understood what INAGBE is doing to take so long to be able to pay the internal scholarship holders".
Internal scholarship holders, especially those attending private higher education institutions, are being prevented from taking exams and/or checking their grades in the system, said the president of AEEBISA, lamenting the "silence" of the scholarship operator.
The Makaangola portal, managed by activist Rafael Marques, denounced on Monday the existence of a "hole" of more than 21 billion kwanzas in INAGBE, through unjustified transfers and payments made in 2022.
Furthermore, according to Maka Angola, there are 101 scholarship holders, duly identified, who receive subsidies from INAGBE, but are not included in the lists sent by the universities that host the beneficiaries.
António Armando considered it "ridiculous" that INAGBE has not spoken out, up until now, "to publicly explain what has influenced these delays", highlighting that three months of delay in the payment of subsidies happens "regularly".
The current five-month delay is causing "enormous embarrassment" to beneficiaries, with scholarship holders not having received their payments for a year, without the institute offering any solution, despite complaints and reports, he added.
The association leader recalled that the subsidies, in addition to being used to pay tuition fees, help to support other academic expenses.
According to António Armando, INAGBE often only pays off students' debts through pressure and demonstrations, highlighting the need for the Attorney General's Office (PGR) or the General Inspectorate of State Administration (IGAE) to investigate the public institution.
Lusa contacted the head of the Internal Scholarships Department at INAGBE, but he refused to speak without any guidance in this regard from the general management of this body, which is supervised by the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation.
The office of the general director of INAGBE was also contacted, but without success.
