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Questionable qualifications, mismanagement causes removal of E-Governance Head – Harmon

July 30, 2015 | By | Filed Under News, Source

 

Alexei Ramotar was sent on leave from heading E-Governance Information Communication Technology (ICT) Initiative, because of mismanagement and his questionable qualifications.

 

Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, addressing a public gathering at the Stabroek Square, Georgetown, said that the ICT initiative was meant to digitize and connect governmental agencies through an internet database located at the Castellani House, Georgetown.

 

The project was jumpstarted by the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C).

 

Minister Harmon said that Ramotar’s questionable appointment, because of his qualifications and the suggestion of nepotism which surrounded the multimillion dollar project at the time, could have resulted in ICT initiative failure.

 

“When the budget was announced I questioned the qualifications of this young man to run such a project,” said Minister Harmon. He recalled a “fight” he had with former Minister of Finance, Ashni Singh, who criticized Harmon for “chasing away young people from business”.

 

According to Harmon, when he further questioned Singh on the qualification of the former President’s son, the former Minister could not provide an answer.

 

Ramotar was responsible for liaising with top Government officials like Cabinet Secretary, Dr. Roger Luncheon, on the affairs of the US$32M fibre optic cable. Minister Harmon said that in addition to the US$32M, Ramotar had advised that the project would cost US$20M to fix as a result of damage incurred to the Brazil to Georgetown cable.

 

“The same man who was responsible for making the thing work, (Ramotar) was saying that it cannot work,” said the State Minister. As a result of the ineffective cable operations, the PPP/C administration had contracted the services of Faisal “Dax” Mohamed to repair the US$32M instrument.

 

The said contract had faced much criticism from media outlets for its vague terms and conditions which hugely benefited Dax through numerous concessions. The agreement stated that Dax would undertake the repair and maintenance of the fibre optic cable from Brazil. This contract was for an initial 25 years with an option to renew it for a further 15 years thus, giving Dax a total of 40 years of cable rights.

 

The PPP/C administration also provided Mohamed with the necessary support to receive and transmit data by way of the cable after granting the company an operating licence.


Additionally, Mohamed would, for free, be able to use the Government-owned fibre optic cables and structures including, roads, the poles, access to repeater stations among other facilities.


The company, Dax Contracting Services, would also be provided with tax exemptions and incentives, including but not limited to tax holidays, remissions, tax waivers and duty free concessions on equipment, spares, tools and vehicles.


Harmon had said that the “beneficiary” of the contract, was awarded the agreement as the result of a relationship shared between a family member of the contractor and the E-Governance Head.

 

It was this suspicious mismanagement of the ICT initiative, said the Minister, was the reason for new administration launching a full audit into the E-Governance project. Earlier in the month, Ramotar was sent on leave with immediate effect from his post as the project head to facilitate investigations into the ICT initiative.

 

“I will say to you that we are finding all sorts of irregularities,” said Harmon.

Replies sorted oldest to newest

Originally Posted by Demerara_Guy:

Hopefully very soon, the minister will announce either the abandonment of the project or specific methods to achieve the objectives of the project.

That's correct, sir.

Those are the only two choices the minister has.

Thank you for your balanced comment.

FM
Originally Posted by Nehru:
Originally Posted by Brian Teekah:

So Ramotar is gone.  Time to fix this thing.

But DUNCES cant even fix DEm leaking windows.

Who more dunce than the runtars - Pappa and son.

FM
Originally Posted by Brian Teekah:

So Ramotar is gone.  Time to fix this thing.

Nah worry bai. Google gon put up one-two balloon in de sky and de whole country go get Wi-Fi. Google ah put one balloon ova Sri Lanka right now. Google am.

FM
Originally Posted by Prashad:
If Alex name was David Jones or Martin Anderson do you think he would have been kicked like that. Hell no.

What if his name was Jennifa Westford?  

 

 

Westford at centre of $120m probe

By Staff Writer On July 30, 2015 @ 5:30 am In Local News

Former Public Service Minister Dr Jennifer Westford is now the subject of another police investigation, Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum has confirmed. Sources say this time it pertains to a sum of around $120m.

When contacted, Blanhum said that the police have “initiated investigations”. While he did not provide specifics, Minister of Governance Raphael Trotman told reporters at a post cabinet press briefing yesterday that this newest probe involves the allocation of tens of millions of dollars. Stabroek News has since learnt that the sum is just over $120M.

 Dr Jennifer Westford Dr Jennifer Westford

Trotman told reporters that things seem to be “bubbling up” and that one of them pertains to the Ministry of the Public Service’s allocation of tens of millions of dollars. He said that the allocation is actively engaging the attention of the Guyana Police Force.

Westford came into public focus last month when a document showed that she and four other persons allegedly attempted to have the registrations for eight state-owned vehicles transferred into their names. After a police investigation and weeks being reviewed by the Director of Public Prosecutions, a charge was recommended and yesterday she appeared in court with regards to that matter.

Westford was charged with four counts of attempting to committed larceny when she sought to transfer vehicles from the government to herself and several other persons.

Another employee Margaret Cummings also appeared in court yesterday charged over her alleged role in the scheme.


Article printed from Stabroek News: http://www.stabroeknews.com

URL to article: http://www.stabroeknews.com/20...entre-of-120m-probe/

 

 

FM
Originally Posted by Brian Teekah:
Originally Posted by Nehru:
Originally Posted by Brian Teekah:

So Ramotar is gone.  Time to fix this thing.

But DUNCES cant even fix DEm leaking windows.

Who more dunce than the runtars - Pappa and son.

Ow man Brian why you butchering the people name.

 

The word is Ramotar.

FM
Originally Posted by Prashad:
If Alex name was David Jones or Martin Anderson do you think he would have been kicked like that. Hell no.

Alexei Ramotar was sent on leave from heading E-Governance Information Communication Technology (ICT) Initiative, because of mismanagement and his questionable qualifications.

Mitwah
Originally Posted by KishanB:
Originally Posted by Brian Teekah:
Originally Posted by Nehru:
Originally Posted by Brian Teekah:

So Ramotar is gone.  Time to fix this thing.

But DUNCES cant even fix DEm leaking windows.

Who more dunce than the runtars - Pappa and son.

Ow man Brian why you butchering the people name.

 

.

Is funny, KishanB, rubbing BT behind, rubbing Georgie while Jay Bharat playing stupid.  Real funny.

FM

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