For the vice-minister of Education, Didier Budimbu, from the Cap pour le changement coalition, it is false to speak of recruitment of fictional teachers in favor of the education free tuition measure. At the present time, there is an ongoing procedure to identify teachers paid until now by parents, but who have never been recognized by the State.

These are what are called the new units that could be remunerated for the first time at best in April: "With respect to the new units, they have been identified. And in the commission, there is the Prime Minister's office, the Ministry of Budget, the Ministry of Finances, the Presidency of the Republic, and there is also a commission from the World Bank to oversee all of this. Are you going to tell me that these ministries and this institution that is the World Bank are going to get together to create fictional ones? No. That is outright false," declares Didier Budimbu.

Toward a general audit?

One of the main cases of proven fraudulent recruitment, according to the vice-minister, concerns the hiring in Kinshasa of around ten agents from the National Service for Student Identification (Sernie): "Even before the deputy, the honorable Tony Mwaba, who is from my political family, stepped up to the plate, I believe that a week before, we had noticed that at the level of Sernie, there were indeed some abuses, and the State minister had instructed the secretary general to cancel everything that had been issued as assignment. And at the level of the city of Kinshasa, all these assignments had already been canceled."

The other case is that of the duplication of a 2018 decree that would have allowed an agent to give operating permits to 80 schools, some fictional and others not. Because of these abuses, the ministry says it has requested the possibility of conducting a general audit on payroll in the sector. But to this day, it is struggling to find financing.