Rumpus in KP Assembly as opposition demands probe into ghost schools

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Friday witnessed rumpus as the opposition staged a walkout and demanded formation of a special committee to investigate the issue of ghost schools and students while the treasury tried to defend the government.

On a call attention notice by Khushdil Khan of Awami National Party (ANP) and Inayatullah Khan of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), the opposition drew the attention of the House towards a scandal in the Elementary Education Foundation and called for establishment of a special parliamentary committee to probe the matter.

Khushdil Khan and Inayatullah Khan said the matter involved gross irregularities as the managing director of the foundation had revealed that millions of rupees had been siphoned in the name of ghost schools and students.

The managing director, they said, accused the advisor to chief minister on education and other high-ups of being involved in the scam. They demanded that a special committee should be constituted to probe the issue.

They added that since Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has claimed to have established a corruption-free society and ensured good governance, its government should support the demand and constitute a special committee to investigate the scandal.

Taking part in the debate on the issue, opposition leader Akram Khan Durrani said it was astonishing that the official in question was suspended instead of appreciating him for exposing the corruption of advisor to chief minister, secretary and others.

He said the advisor and secretary should be suspended and a special committee formed to investigate the scandal. The suspended managing director of the foundation, Zulfiqar Ahmad, should also be called to the committee to record his statement, he added.

Sardar Hussain Babak of ANP questioned under which law another officer could be appointed to replace a suspended officer and under which law he would be paid salary. He said under the PTI sponsored Whistle Blower Act a person unearthing corruption of millions of rupees should be awarded and given 30 percent in the recovery of embezzled money, but the PTI violated its own law by suspending the managing director.

He said the previous setup of PTI suspended officers of the Bank of Khyber who had disclosed corruption in the bank. In his reply, the chief minister’s Special Assistant Kamran Bangash tried to defend the government, saying the managing director was removed by Board of Directors of the foundation for violating rules.

He said the managing director had been informed about the 90 ghost schools in Mansehra and stopping the payment to these schools but he failed to do so. He said the official bypassed his seniors to appoint accountants

He said the official achieved the target of enlisting 225,000 children besides drawing Rs1.4 million as TA and DA. He said the managing director surrendered Rs3.2 billion meant for the project.

Following the treasury’s refusal to constitute a special committee for the purpose the joint opposition staged a walkout from the House. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Stamp (amendment) Bill, 2019 was passed while the KP Education Monitoring Authority Bill, 2019 was introduced in the absence of opposition. Deputy Speaker Mehmood Jan, who presided over the session, had to adjourn it when the lack of quorum was pointed out to him.