A member of parliament representing Warrap State on the SPLM ticket in the national assembly has voiced concerns about the criteria and process of awarding scholarships for higher education, claiming children of the poor are left out.
SSPDF General Victoria Adhar Arop alleged that the process of granting scholarships is unclear and that only the children of the rich get them while the poor, needy, and deserving are deliberately left out.
The lawmaker urged the House to interest itself in the matter and further scrutinize the process of dishing out scholarships if those who deserve them, particularly poor children and students from less privileged families who have performed well, are to benefit.
“In this House (parliament) you do not know how many children have been sent out to learn. Those are children of rich people. What about the children of the widows and poor people?” Gen. Adhar queried. “We (TNLA) must ask the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, and Technology to submit names of those awarded scholarships to know whose children are they.”
She also raised the issue of runaway insecurity, charged that parliament is toothless on matters of security yet people continue to die innocently across the country, and appealed to lawmakers to take full control and ensure it is addressed.
“You have been hearing about people dying and you are not taking firm decisions. I am asking my people, why are we letting our citizens die? Every day we read parliamentary motions here. No! We should take action so that we end the senseless deaths of our people,” she said. “I do not want another woman to be called a widow like myself so you (parliament) take action. We are the largest institution in the country so why are we afraid to make decisions? Why are we leaving these people who are selling ammunition?”
She added that insecurity will not end if parliament fails to act and also called for stern action against soldiers and civilians who illegally sell guns and bullets.
Gen. Adhar, 82, who is a veteran of the liberation struggle, was a First Lieutenant and medical assistant in the late 1980s in Dimma Ethiopia where she played a great role in the lives of what was known as Jesha al Amer (Red Army), young children who were not yet fit for military action.
She was and is still fondly called mummy by the minors who were unaccompanied and lived in difficult circumstances.