Facing more questions about the dismissal of junior-level employee Marcelle Joseph, the Office of the President (OP) last evening denied that her sacking had anything to do with “her role in the leaking of information on the one laptop per family project.”
OP said that Joseph’s contract was terminated after she entered the Permanent Secretary’s Secretariat without permission and copied and tampered with records. The statement came following reports that the woman fled the country and a search of her home yesterday by plainclothes police, who reportedly said that they were acting on instructions from OP and were looking for a flash drive with sensitive information. OP said last evening that Joseph downloaded “routine” information.
The Alliance for Change (AFC) has planned a peaceful protest outside of OP today to register its disapproval of “the arbitrary sacking” of Joseph.
In its statement last evening, OP described Joseph as a junior employee and said that she was previously employed with its Press & Publicity Section before being transferred to the Permanent Secretary’s Secretariat five months ago. “Recently, suppliers of goods and services have been complaining that Ms Joseph was in the habit of requesting lunch or lunch monies from them whenever their payments were ready for uplifting. As a result of such reports, the Permanent Secretary decided to transfer Ms Joseph to the Administrative Division,” the statement said.
It added that on February 4, Joseph uplifted the keys to the Permanent Secretary’s Secretariat from the office security and entered the office without authorization. According to OP, Joseph removed four flash drives and “apparently downloaded routine information” which was stored on the computer there. Additionally, it said she deleted minutes of payment records and other information from the computer. “It was the unauthorized entry into the Permanent Secretary’s Secretariat, the copying and tampering with records that led to the termination of her contract subsequent to being interviewed by both the Permanent Secretary and the Minister of the Public Service Ministry on her wrongdoing,” OP said. “We wish to categorically state that her termination had nothing to do with her role in the leaking of information on the one laptop per family project,” it added.
According to the statement, the minutes of payment and other financial documents are nothing secretive as they are expenditures captured in the national estimates. “These payments are made openly and the records are easily accessible by junior level staff. These are processed and audited as a matter of routine. These payments are legitimately made for authorized transactions. There is nothing to hide,” OP said. It added that “the efforts of Kaieteur News and Mr. Mark Benschop to market these disclosures as leaks represent their mere clutching at straws and attempts at creating sensationalism.”
Search
Meantime, police searched Joseph’s home yesterday, questioning her mother Jennifer Haynes about a flash drive and her daughter’s whereabouts.
Haynes told Stabroek News that four plainclothes police officers turned up at her home and sought permission to conduct a search. The woman said she felt compelled to agree and the men searched the home, saying that they were looking for a flash drive with sensitive information. “The place was now getting dark when they showed up,” the woman recalled.
Haynes said the men told her they were acting on instructions from OP and they asked where Marcelle Joseph was. She told them her daughter’s whereabouts were not her business and she refused to entertain further questions on the issue. Haynes said too that the men asked for a contact number for Joseph in the US. Following the termination of her contract, Joseph left the country and is in the United States, according to reports.
Haynes recounted that the men said that they had information Joseph left the country on Sunday and was in the US. Haynes repeated that she had no information on her daughter and said after searching the home the men left.
Haynes was unhappy with the treatment being meted out to her family and, according to her, it started with her daughter Marcelle. She said they dismissed her daughter and due to threats the young woman was forced to flee the country.
The woman said that she has younger children who could easily be intimidated by the presence of police invading the home and conducting searches.
She said also that the family has endured enough already, particularly the manner in which her daughter was dismissed.
This newspaper was told that Marcelle Joseph was devastated by the entire episode yesterday. She is also affected by everything that has happened to her since her dismissal and is now concerned for her family.
