Dear Editor,
In February 2010, the Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon had pegged the cost of the ICT project under the Office of the President at $8,800 million and it was expected to be completed at the end of 2012. Some $10,242 million has been spent so far and now we are being told that the project is scheduled to be completed at the end of 2015.
Is something wrong with the majority opposition that in this period where they have the final authority they continue to allow millions to be spent on PPP schemes without any proper scrutiny?
Any rational thinker would have called on the PPP to justify the additional cost of this project by demanding a clear explanation as to why it is some $2 billion over its original estimate and is still not completed for the benefit of the Guyanese people. Is this project ever going to be completed? We are asking the opposition to demand answers from the regime as to the cost of and delay in the project.
Under the ICT Project, the 2012 Audit Report on Page 28 clearly outlined that 4,660 of the laptops under the One Laptop Component of the Project were damaged or not fit for use and were returned to the manufacturer in China. But yet the majority opposition continues to allow the PPP to have more funding. For what? Why is the opposition joining with the PPP to waste taxpayers’ money?
In 2014, the PPP requested $3,463 million from Parliament for this scheme without any clear justification or documentation as to why the delays have occurred or why we are overspending on this project in the billions. Will the majority opposition pass this capital budget request? There is nothing in the 2014 budget to relieve poverty or to improve the lives of the poor. In fact, it is an anti-poor and anti-working class budget. We ask the people to judge the majority opposition by their actions. It is clear that the combined opposition and the PPP regime are not promoting the interests of the poor and the powerless.
Yours faithfully,
Asquith Rose
Harish S Singh
