Questionable qualifications, mismanagement causes removal of E-Governance Head – Harmon
July 30, 2015 | By KNews | 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.
