Ramotar sent on leave pending investigation of US$32M e-Governance project

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HEAD of the e-Governance project, Alexei Ramota, has been sent on leave pending investigations into the project, according to a Ministry of the Presidency press release yesterday. The A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) coalition inherited responsibility for the e-Governance project after defeating the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) at the May 11 elections. The aim of the project was to effect the modification and advancement of telecommunications operations of Government agencies, but was marred by controversy after the appointment of President Donald Ramotar’s son to manage the project, and the many missed deadlines for completion. The project seemed shrouded in shadows. The move by the Government to send Ramotar on leave follows recent interactions between Ramotar and Minister of State Joseph Harmon, where the project head was expected to submit a report on the operations of the project. When contacted, Ramotar expressed shock in the decision to send him home pending investigations. The son of former President Donald Ramotar said he had received no indication that the Administration was taking such a posture, although he was aware of an audit being done into the project. Ramotar reportedly received a monthly salary of $650,000 for heading the project. The younger Ramotar expressed concern that although he has not officially received word from the Ministry of the Presidency, by way of letter effecting his leave, his status was published in the media. The APNU and AFC, while in Opposition during the 10th Parliament (2011-2015) had many reservations about the project, which was approved in the National Assembly in 2009, during the 9th Parliament, where the PPP/C held a parliamentary majority. Huawei Technology Company Limited, a Chinese firm, was marked in 2009 to provide infrastructural support for the implementation of the project, which included the laying of a fibre-optic cable from Lethem to Georgetown. Ramotar told the Guyana Chronicle that the e-Governance project, insofar as setting up telecommunications infrastructure, has been completed since August last year, and testing of that infrastructure was being done following that. The testing, he said, is almost complete. He also managed a separate project, the Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM), which was aimed at running the Lethem to Georgetown fibre-optic cable. That project cost some US$5M, but Ramotar gave the assurance that this was halted in 2013, and the monies are still available. Neither projects, according to Ramotar, went over budget. Ramotar had submitted a report to the State Minister, following the meeting between the two, where a number of suggestions were offered by the project head on how to salvage the project as well as other recommendations of services, which could be implemented. Minister Harmon told the media some time ago the cables being run from Lethem to Georgetown were damaged and might be too costly to repair. This is a notable difference in position from his predecessor’s, Dr Roger Luncheon, who told the press corps in 2014 that the issues of the project, which had already expended $1B, could be remedied.