Terence Mukasa
Fourteen Project Hope workers have been suspended for allegedly stealing at least N$4 million through inflating transport fees prices, among others.
It is alleged that implicated workers siphoned around N$4 million from the organisation – an initiative, bankrolled by the American government – through the alleged scam that included inflating taxi fares as well as travel and subsistence allowances.
The community care workers have been on suspension since August 2022, with full benefits.
According to Project Hope management, the scam is still being unravelled and the N$4 million is just a conversative estimate.
Ironically, the same workers have since been called back to sign contract extensions until 2023.
They, however, are in the dark about how long the suspension will last.
The non-governmental organisation allegedly launched the investigation after posts from an Instagram account, called ‘Omajuices’, went viral, stating that Project Hope leaders have been misleading the organisation’s funders on the funds allocated to the project.
“Project Hope is very toxic; last month, donors from the USA came in and the top management made sure to shift all the blame on the juniors, painting an image as though the juniors squandered funds when they are the ones that have been eating money,” read the post.
The post also claimed community care workers are “overworked and underpaid”.
“The Project Hope management is the worst of the worst. It is a private organisation, but juniors are paid peanuts, yet they are overloaded with so much work. Community workers are forced to enter data, yet they are not compensated for that job, whose descriptions belong to a data clerk,” said a disgruntled worker, who preferred to remain unknown.
Most workers, who preferred to remain anonymous out of fear of reprisal, told New Era that in the beginning, they were accused of stealing or being involved in fraudulent matters on baseless grounds.
This is all while the organisation was attempting to conduct a ‘pilot study’ on all community care workers in Khomas to determine the veracity of fraudulent activities among them.
The clandestine operation was being done under the guise of assessing performance, New Era understands.
It is further said the study is primarily composed of the suspended employees.
Furthermore, the 14 suspended workers allegedly signed paid suspension letters under duress.
The letter indicates they will be on paid suspension “until further notice”.
“Out of approximately more than 100 community care workers in the Khomas region, how are we the only ones who are being investigated and suspended over a short period of time?” asked the workers.
More so, following the social media posts on ‘Omajuices’, DREAMS chief, Bernadette Harases, in an email to Project Hope leaders, warned workers against intimidating other colleagues or they risk facing disciplinary action.
“It has come to our attention that community care workers and other staff members are being intimidated and harassed by some of the seniors,” Harases is quoted as saying in the email.
“Please take this as a serious warning. Any person found to disobey this instruction will be dealt with accordingly,” she said.
The suspended workers were also instructed to exit all the organisation’s WhatsApp groups in August, as they may interfere with the ongoing investigations.
The suspended 10 community care workers and four site coordinators worked under the Determined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-free, Mentored and Safe (DREAMS) programme.
In September, the suspended staff members of the DREAMS programme were called to sign a contract extension up to March 2023 while being paid suspension with no indication as to when the suspension will be over.
In a telephonic interview on Tuesday last week, Harases could not give any information related to the suspension of the workers.
She added that Project Hope’s country director Rosalia Indongo was better placed to respond.
“We decided, based on the human resource procedures, to conduct an investigation on the staff, and those close to the suspects were also removed,” said Indongo upon enquiry.
Indongo added the suspended suspects are only suspended whilst the investigation is ongoing and are, therefore, not charged until the investigation is done, based on the evidence that will be found.
“We will follow the necessary procedure to ensure that should anything be found, the suspended suspects will be given the platform to explain themselves,” she said.
Indongo also said it is not yet known how much is misappropriated, and he was of the opinion that the matter is not newsworthy.
She further explained that should there be anything found on the case, the suspended workers will be called in and updated on the case.
The DREAMS programme is implemented by Project Hope in Namibia’s Khomas, Oshikoto and Zambezi regions, as well as in the Oshana and Kavango East regions.
DREAMS is one of many initiatives of the US President’s Emergency Plan for the AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) programme to support Namibia to reach control of HIV/AIDS.
Project Hope boasts:” “through the DREAMS programme, we’ve empowered nearly 20 000 girls and young women across Namibia with education on HIV, as well as job skills and financial literacy training to help them become more independent. We also provide clinical support for survivors of GBV: In 2019, the programme reached over 450 adolescent girls and young women with care.”
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