Sep 18, 2017 Source

-Insists that her Ministry is making progress

Minister of Public Telecommunications, Cathy Hughes sought recently to address her colleague, Opposition Member, Juan Edghill who criticized her sector for wallowing in underperformance.
She recalled that it was Edghill who told Kaieteur News that when one assesses the performance of several ministries, it is clear that some of Government officials are not doing anything at all. Using local Guyanese parlance, the former Junior Finance Minister said, “They just deh.”
Edghill asserted that the government and its ministers have essentially failed to inspire the people of Guyana. He opined that the job of the Executive is to give citizens a sense of understanding of where they are taking the country, how they are going to get there and what would be the benefit when they get there.
“With respect to the Ministry of Public Telecommunications, it is yet to articulate a policy direction that the Guyanese people can buy into. Making declaratory statements is not policy direction. Here is a simple question: What has been done to improve telecommunications and related services in Guyana in the past two years? Let Minister Cathy Hughes state publically, one thing she has done in terms of improving this.”

Opposition Member, Juan Edghill

Public Telecommunications Minister, Cathy Hughes

The Opposition Member added, “The internet is still bouncing, it going and coming and they said they are giving you 4G service when most times, you are getting three or three and a half.”
At a recent press conference, Hughes said it would be her absolute pleasure to inform the Member of Parliament of the progress going on with her Ministry.
Hughes recalled that the first draft of the Public Telecommunications Legislation was made in 2001. She said that Edghill and the party to which he belongs; the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) had 14 years to do something with that legislation.
Hughes noted that the Ministry of Public Telecommunications was formed in January 2016 and by August 8 of that year; the Ministry was able to get that very legislation through the Parliament. Since that time, the Minister of Public Telecommunications noted that she and her team have been focusing on digitization education.
Hughes said, “What I mean by that is that we have ensured as our focus, bringing technology to education. That is why the President specifically stated that teachers needed to have laptops which were fully loaded with all the syllabuses, teaching materials as well as internet access so that they could better serve the children of this nation.”
With the aforementioned in mind, Hughes said her ministry has given out through the E-Governance Unit close to 6000 laptops to teachers.
“We have given to the Carnegie School of Economics and to the Blind Society. We have given to a number of agencies, students who have done well…A range of different individuals. The other thing that we did too was to commission that E-Government network that was sitting dormant for close to two years during the previous government.”
Speaking to the importance of getting this network up and running, Hughes said that the network allowed the Ministry to provide free internet access to more than 101 schools across Guyana.
“Schools like the St. Ignatius High School that I visited about three months ago that never had internet… We have a Tosaho calling every now and again just touching base and having conversations about what is happening there. Already, we have created 35 ICT hubs. And as recent as a few days ago, Kaieteur News carried a story about a new ICT hub that was being created.”
Hughes said that Edghill’s comments are nothing but unfounded statements.
She noted that the song “King Liar” by famous Calypsonian Lord Nelson comes to mind when she thinks of the Opposition Member’s comments.