Former project manager of the One Laptop per Family (OLPF) initiative Judson Lohmeyer has come in for harsh criticism from the Office of the President (OP) and labelled a “scoundrel” who misrepresented his qualifications.

In a statement released yesterday, OP also accused Lohmeyer of “threatening to disclose the media aspects of his work experiences as the consultant responsible for the launch of the OLPF initiative…unless he was paid about US$9,000 subsequent to his separation from the job.

“Mr Lohmeyer’s departure was inevitable after he was confronted with his poor performance and misrepresentations about his qualifications and to the public.”

According to OP, Lohmeyer “resigned and as per contract

was ineligible to receive the benefits he is now demanding”.

Lohmeyer, during an interview with activist Mark Benschop aired on benschopradio.com on Sunday, said he decided to resign after it became clear that there were two plans in place for the OLPF project. Lohmeyer said he learnt that Steven Grin, the Head of the Project Management Unit in the Office of the President, was planning to outsource the project while he (Lohmeyer) was working on executing the project locally.

The former project manager said he had contacted Grin requesting payments due to him (Lohmeyer).  According to him, he has complied with the terms of his contract, giving 30 days notice of his resignation. However, he said, he was only paid for the five days he worked after giving notice.

Lohmeyer served as project manager for the OLPF from July to November last year. He was offered a salary of US$100,000 per year. While admitting that he was “shocked” at the magnitude of the amount being offered, he accepted it.

Meanwhile, OP yesterday released a letter, which they said Lohmeyer sent to Grin. The purpose of releasing the letter, OP said, was “to illustrate the unethical and immoral character that Jud Lohmeyer is. The Office of the President is advising Guyanese to reject his disclosures and judge him for the scoundrel his behaviour reveals he is.”

The text of the letter released by OP is as follows:

“Hi Steve:

“I was wondering if this might not be an auspicious time to approach you on reconsidering making full reparations on my consulting agreement.  I gave proper 30 day notice.  It was you who elected not to have me work those days. That does not forfeit the 30 day payment.

“I’m in great demand for comments and interviews on the goings on at OLPF and OP.  While I believe my work and discussions are confidential, that is only valid if the terms and obligations of the consulting agreement are fulfilled.  I find GoG in default.  I am only holding GoG accountable for the contract, in fact, I have evidence that you acted in bad faith by interfering with my ability to perform my duties as Project Manager hence forcing me to resign.  As far as I’m concerned you personally owe me the full value of the consulting agreement.

“This e mail serves as final notice to GoG that it is in default on the consulting agreement between myself and the OP by failing to make full reparations.

Thanks, Jud

Jud Lohmeyer”

In the radio interview aired on Sunday, Lohmeyer had said that the 140 netbooks ceremonially distributed at the official launch of the OLPF project were bought with a US$50,000 “thank-you gift” from Chinese company, Huawei given after it was awarded the US$14 million contract to lay the fibre-optic cables here.

On Saturday, OP accused Lohmeyer of threatening it with blackmail by releasing information because he was not paid severance benefits. Lohmeyer expressed surprise at the allegation in the interview and released documents saying it is up to Guyanese to decide what they make of the accusation. In the interview, Lohmeyer outlined his reasons for resigning as well as giving some insights into the OLPF project which he managed from the beginning and was intimately involved with until submitting his resignation in November last year. He also made several disclosures regarding the project.

Since being officially launched in January, it has been a rocky road for the OLPF initiative with political parties and others raising several concerns about the project and its lack of transparency. Under the programme, the government plans to distribute 90,000 laptops to poor families over the next three years.

At its official launch at the International Conference Centre, 142 netbooks were distributed. There was no information at that point on how they had been sourced. Huawei had also not spoken about its “donation”. After questions were asked in a Stabroek News story about how the netbooks were procured, President Bharrat Jagdeo later disclosed that Huawei had donated the netbooks. “The 142 computers that we distributed at the launch, we got as a gift from Huawei. We did not buy those computers, we got them as a gift from Huawei,” Jagdeo had said during a press briefing at State House.

Huawei has been contracted by the government to connect internet networks across Guyana as part of its e-governance thrust.

Lohmeyer said on Sunday that after the US$14 million contract was approved by OP to be awarded to Huawei, as a “thank-you”, the Chief Executive Officer of the company authorized their manager here to provide a US$50,000 gift. He said what was originally being examined was 50 expensive laptops for distribution to staff.  However, Lohmeyer said, he was the one who suggested the purchase of laptops for the OLPF project and the idea was approved and the computers bought.  Lohmeyer acknowledged that the “gift” raised ethical questions.

Lohmeyer said he began working with the OLPF project in November 2009 when he was still a US Peace Corps volunteer here researching and consulting with stakeholders. After he completed his stint, he was officially given the job as Project Manager in July 2010.

At the time, Grin was project manager for the Amaila Falls Hydroelectric project and the PMU was headed by another man. After the man’s services were discontinued, Grin was asked to take over.

Lohmeyer said he decided to leave once it became clear that there were two plans in place for the OLPF project. According to him, after he resigned, he learned that Grin was planning to outsource the project while he (Lohmeyer) was working on executing the project here. He said that Grin was in discussions with a company, Accenture, to take over the OLPF project in August 2011 and the company would provide a project manager and other services and later, would take over Low Carbon Development Strategy projects. He said that he was told that as far as Grin was concerned Lohmeyer’s employment would end at the time. According to him, Grin envisioned that the project would be considered a “languishing project” that could be handed to the outsider.

Lohmeyer said that his vision of the OLPF project was adding a laptop component to various projects already in place and leveraging staff at various ministries. He said that it would have been low cost implementation. He said that last November when he resigned, he believed that his efforts had “left the tracks” and there was a new effort to create new bureaucracy for the project rather than using existing programmes. It would have taken at least a year to provide the infrastructure, he said.

Since his resignation, Lohmeyer has left Guyana and has currently taken up a post in Manila, the Philippines, this newspaper understands.

He said that at this point in time the OLPF programme appears to be co-run by Grin and current project manager Sesh Sukhdeo. Lohmeyer expressed the view that the project is back to square one in terms of them trying to figure how to execute the project since they had no involvement in it prior.

He pointed out that there are challenges in the overall infrastructure that needs to be developed and this was when the project got “hairy”. He noted that the support and distribution of computers is very expensive and pointed to the overall infrastructure that needs to be developed. He said that the project would be in severe jeopardy if there is no in-house expertise. He outlined what could have been done working with local companies to provide internet access and said that the low-cost implementation was thwarted when it began to take on other dimensions and the giving away of “new contracts to outsiders”.

Lohmeyer said that he would not be taking legal action against the government because of the costs. Given the response after his request for payment, he said, “It probably behooves me to stay clear and stay safe”. He said the documents upon which the government made the blackmail allegations are now public and it is up to Guyanese to decide what they make of the accusation. “I’m not bitter, I’m disappointed that the project took a turn more towards…a bureaucratic approach”, he said.

In his interview with Benschop, Lohmeyer recounted that he had requested from Grin, payments due to him. He said he had complied with the terms of his contract, giving 30 days notice of his resignation. However, he said, he was only paid for the five days he worked with Sukhdeo after giving notice.

‘Gift’ from Chinese firm funded netbooks

–former OLPF project manager

-was shocked at US$100,000 salary offered to him by OP

The 140 netbooks ceremonially distributed at the official launch of the One Laptop Per Family (OLPF) project were bought with a US$50,000 “thank-you gift” from Chinese company, Huawei given after it was awarded the US$14M contract to lay the fibre-optic cables here, according to OLPF’s former Project Manager, Judson Lohmeyer.

Lohmeyer has been accused by the Office of the President (OP) of threatening to blackmail OP by releasing information because he has not been paid severance benefits. He expressed surprise at the allegation in an interview with activist, Mark Benschop aired on benschopradio.com yesterday and released documents saying it is up to Guyanese to decide what they make of the accusation. In the interview, Lohmeyer outlined his reasons for resigning as well as giving some insights into the OLPF project which he managed from the beginning and was intimately involved with until submitting his resignation in November last year. He also made several disclosures regarding the project.

Since being officially launched in January, it has been a rocky road for the OLPF initiative with political parties and others raising several concerns about the project and its lack of transparency. Under the programme, the government plans to distribute 90 000 laptops to poor families over the next three years.

At its official launch at the International Conference Centre, 142 netbooks were distributed. There was no information at that point on how they had been sourced. Huawei had also not spoken about its “donation”. After questions were asked in a Stabroek News story about how the netbooks were procured, President Bharrat Jagdeo later disclosed that Huawei had donated the netbooks. “The 142 computers that we distributed at the launch, we got as a gift from Huawei. We did not buy those computers, we got them as a gift from Huawei,” Jagdeo had said during a press briefing at State House.

Huawei has been contracted by the government to connect internet networks across Guyana as part of its e-governance thrust.

Lohmeyer said yesterday that after the US$14M contract was approved by OP to be awarded to Huawei, as a “thank-you”, the Chief Executive Officer of the company authorized their manager here to provide a US$50,000 gift. He said what was originally being examined was 50 expensive laptops for distribution to staff.  However, Lohmeyer said, he was the one who suggested the purchase of 140 laptops for the OLPF project and the idea was approved and the computers bought.  Lohmeyer acknowledged that the “gift” raised ethical questions.
When contacted yesterday on whether government was going to respond to Lohmeyer’s statements, OP Press Officer, Kwame McCoy said that he had “absolutely no idea” of what was said. “I have not heard any interview so I am not aware whether there is anything for us to respond to…I do not consider Mark Benschop as a credible source…he is not a credible source for anything…and if Stabroek News is sourcing information to him [Benschop] then I am left to question its credibility as well…”, he said.

Lohmeyer said that he began working with the OLPF project in November 2009 when he was still a US Peace Corps volunteer here researching and consulting with stakeholders. After he completed his stint, he was officially given the job as Project Manager in July 2010. Lohmeyer said that he was “shocked” at the salary offered him, US$100 000 per year, but accepted it.

At the time, current head of the Project Management Unit in the Office of the President, Steven Grin was project manager for the Amaila Falls Hydroelectric project and the PMU was headed by another man. After the man’s services were discontinued, Grin was asked to take over.

Lohmeyer said he decided to leave once it became clear that there were two plans in place for the OLPF project. According to him, after he resigned, he learned that Grin was planning to outsource the project while he (Lohmeyer) was working on executing the project here. He said that Grin was in discussions with a company, Accenture, to take over the OLPF project in August 2011 and the company would provide a project manager and other services and later, would take over Low Carbon Development Stra-tegy projects. He said that he was told that as far as Grin was concerned Lohmeyer’s employment would end at the time. According to him, Grin envisioned that the project would be considered a “languishing project” that could be handed to the outsider.

Lohmeyer said that his vision of the OLPF project was adding a laptop component to various projects already in place and leveraging staff at various ministries. He said that it would have been low cost implementation. He said that last November when he resigned, he believed that his efforts had “left the tracks” and there was a new effort to create new bureaucracy for the project rather than using existing programmes. It would have taken at least a year to provide the infrastructure, he said.

Since his resignation, Lohmeyer has left Guyana and has currently taken up a post in Manila, the Philippines, this newspaper understands.

Yesterday, he said that at this point in time the OLPF programme appears to be co-run by Grin and current project manager Sesh Sukhdeo. Lohmeyer expressed the view that the project is back to square one in terms of them trying to figure how to execute the project since they had no involvement in it prior.

He pointed out that there are challenges in the overall infrastructure that needs to be developed and this was when the project got “hairy”. He noted that the support and distribution of computers is very expensive and pointed to the overall infrastructure that needs to be developed. He said that the project would be in severe jeopardy if there is no in-house expertise. He outlined what could have been done working with local companies to provide internet access and said that the low-cost implementation was thwarted when it began to take on other dimensions and the giving away of “new contracts to outsiders”.

Lohmeyer said that he would not be taking legal action against the government because of the costs. Given the response after his request for payment, he said, “It probably behooves me to stay clear and stay safe”. He said that the documents upon which the government made the blackmail allegations are now public and it is up to Guyanese to decide what they make of the accusation. “I’m not bitter, I’m disappointed that the project took a turn more towards…a bureaucratic approach”, he said.

In his interview with Benschop, Lohmeyer recounted that he had requested from Grin, payments due to him. He said he had complied with the terms of his contract, giving 30 days notice of his resignation. However, he said, he was only paid for the five days he worked with Sukhdeo after giving notice.