Permanent Secretary Dr John Phiri says youth empowerment programmes embarked on by the PF regime were more prescriptive than demand driven.
Dr John Phiri explained to a highly charged and visibly disappointed Parliamentary Accounts Committee members that the default rate recorded on all the youth empowerment programmes that commenced in 2012 was very high.
He stated that out of K82 million worth of loans disbursed since 2012, only a total K5,947million had been recovered so far.
He also announced that out of 25 Higher buses leased to youths, only 15 had remained functional.
Members of PAC were even further infuriated by information that the ministry hired a consultant to help them recover the debt for at a fee of K50 million Kwacha.
The permanent secretary however assures the honourable members that beneficiaries will be made to account for their failure to repay loans before investigative wings.
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