We are yet to be given a reason – a good one or otherwise – for Minister in the Ministry of Finance, Jennifer Webster’s $295,000 One Laptop Per Family (OLPF) blunder in the National Assembly. Not a few citizens have suggested that the error may not have been an error at all.
In Minister Webster’s case the apology cannot excuse the occurrence. The hapless Junior Finance Minister is so much ‘out of the loop’ as far as OLPF is concerned that she could not even correct – there and then – an error that would have been immediately apparent to anyone even remotely close to the project.
Of course, the Jagdeo administration has only itself to blame for the high degree of public query and ‘enquiry’ which the OLPF project has generated. $1.8 billion dollars is a thumping sum – VAT remittances notwithstanding – and when that kind of money is being spent the people are owed an explanation. A prior ‘roll out plan’ should have included key issues like the details of the tender process, the type/model of equipment that is being acquired, the criteria for determining the beneficiaries and the system being employed for distribution and accountability. No such ‘roll out plan’ has been forthcoming. The whole affair is shrouded in secrecy so that even if you are willing to believe that the project is well-intentioned, the manner in which it is being handled gives rise to suspicion.
