Robotics kits follow in boxes in Arthur Lira’s stronghold – 06/19/2023 – Politics

Robotics kits purchased a year and three months ago through a contract investigated on suspicion of corruption remain in boxes at municipal schools in União dos Palmares, waiting to be used in classrooms.

The municipality of 65 thousand inhabitants, in the forest zone of Alagoas, received R$ 7.48 million from the federal government, in the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) administration, via parliamentary amendments by the rapporteur, to acquire the kits through a FNDE program ( National Fund for the Development of Education) of MEC (Ministry of Education).

The Federal Police, the TCU (Tribunal de Contas da União) and the CGU (Comptroller General of the Union) are investigating embezzlement of public funds and favoring allies of the President of the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira (PP).

The amount allocated to União dos Palmares –better known for sheltering the Serra da Barriga in its territory, where the legendary Quilombo dos Palmares operated– was the highest among the municipalities in Alagoas contemplated with the program last year.

When the case came to light, revealed by the Sheet and by Agência Pública, the R$ 26 million released to seven cities in Alagoas to purchase the kits represented 68% of everything that had been paid by the FNDE for the whole country until then.

Megalic, a company from Maceió that supplies the kits, belongs to the father of a councilor from the Lira political group, and sold the equipment to the government for an amount 420% higher than what it declared to have paid for them. A direct aide to Lira was the subject of a search and seizure warrant by the PF in the case.

The purchase of robotics kits for the City Hall of União dos Palmares took place in March last year. The mayor of the city, Areski Freitas Junior, Kil (MDB), is an ally of the mayor – leader of the centrão and one of the creators of the rapporteur’s amendments, an instrument considered unconstitutional by the STF (Federal Supreme Court).

Despite the fact that this type of device hides its author, a report in the newspaper O Globo showed that some amendments to robotics kits in municipalities in Alagoas, including União dos Palmares, were indicated by Lira.

The reporter was in the city last June 12, a Monday, and visited three municipal schools, including the two largest.

At João Costa de Oliveira, which serves 1,200 elementary school and EJA (Youth and Adult Education) students, 700 of whom are from 6th to 9th grade, there is a new room for a science laboratory and robotics classes, and this is where Megalic’s boxes are piled up, with the slogan “I make robots” next to the company’s name.

It is a situation similar to that of Jairo Correia, except that in this case the boxes are closed in the corner of a room that has been used for other activities. The school, with 1,115 students, received 50 robotics kits, to be used by 545 students from 6th to 9th grade (elementary 2, the phase to which the city government intends to allocate the equipment).

The rural school Maria Mariá de Castro Sarmento, in the town of Santa Fé, which has a total of 400 students, received 18 kits. At least one of them was open, and teachers had already received training to use them.

The City Hall of União dos Palmares says it has received a total of 460 robotics kits for its 27 schools and 4,200 elementary 2 students, including support material for training. The training, says the municipality, was carried out in March, and the kits will finally be used in the classroom in early July, when the recess started this Monday (19).

The three schools were clean and organized during the visits, which were not scheduled. They present deficiencies typical of the poor interior of Brazil. There is internet, but the signal can be weak and/or intermittent, and the students do not have computers – the few available ones are with teachers and coordinators.

In rural areas, the scarcity is greater – cell phones are rarer, there are families that do not have them, or that share a device among several members.

There is a great expectation in schools to start using robotics. “Students are anxious, they insist, they ask: ‘What’s up, teacher, when is it?'”, says Pedro Marcelo, who teaches mathematics at Maria Mariá.

Teachers and managers say they have no control over how the kits were purchased and that, once in schools, they should be used in the best possible way. “For us, the important thing is that the material arrived”, said Suzete Galdino, director of Jairo Correia.

MONEY WITHHELD

The education secretary of União dos Palmares, Petrúcio Wanderley (who is also head of Health), said that the process was suitable on the part of the city hall and that the delay was due to the need for training to match the ambition of the city.

“We are improving our education and we want to advance more with technology.” Beside him in the interview, the municipal attorney, Allan Belarmino, claimed that, in fact, after the suspicions about the process, he asked to wait for guidance from the control bodies.

Both reported that, although União had received the kits, Megalic had not yet received any penny of the R$7.48 million charged for the equipment.

The TCU suspended transfers, but authorized the payment of products demonstrably delivered by April 20, 2022 (in the case of União dos Palmares). After Megalic appealed to the Federal Court, however, it confirmed the suspension and determined the judicial deposit of the amounts.

At the end of April, the TCU pointed out several irregularities in the process, such as lack of information on the composition of the price and indications of overpricing.

Before becoming head of the two main portfolios of União dos Palmares, Petrúcio Wanderley had been secretary in the city halls of Atalaia and Delmiro Gouveia. “I’m a technician. I’m very calm.” A news portal from Alagoas published that Wanderley is Arthur Lira’s “man of trust” in the region. The secretary says it’s because of the opposition’s intrigue.

Attorney Belarmino complained of prejudice by the media in the center-south of the country. “What bothers me the most is [veículos de imprensa] point out that Alagoas received the most. But no one asks: does Alagoas, which is a poor state, need these resources?”.

Megalic denies wrongdoing. It states that it is capable of building the kits and denies that there was an overprice, claiming that the report by Sheet that originated the investigation improperly compared its products with kits of inferior quality.

In a note, the lawyer Eugênio Aragão declared that there was a “serious mistake” in the suspicions and that all the contracts were based on technical parameters of the MEC and the FNDE.

Arthur Lira claimed to defend “parliamentary amendments that bring benefits to all of Brazil and the entire population” and said that it has “absolutely nothing to do with what is happening; everyone is responsible for their CPF”.

BROAD ALLIANCE

The robotics kits episode exposes the peculiarity of local political arrangements. Mayor Kil is from the MDB, a party controlled in Alagoas by senator Renan Calheiros, a staunch enemy of Arthur Lira. In the last election, Kil campaigned for both (and for Renan Filho for the Senate, Paulo Dantas for the state government and Lula for the Presidency).

Regarding Lira, in July 2021, Kil published a visit to the deputy in Brasília on a social network and said he had dealt with “an important reinforcement in the education of our public school students with robotics instruments”.

On a visit to União dos Palmares in March last year for the inauguration of an agricultural park, the head of the Chamber was received with banners saying “Thank you, President Arthur Lira”, celebrated the partnership with the city hall and heard torn praise. In an interview at the same event, the mayor mentioned the robotics program among Lira’s actions for the municipality.