Squandered‒ Ramotar’s Administration paid $169,737 per laptop worth between $86,310 — $108,974

By Svetlana Marshall

OVER 3,000 damaged laptops were donated to the Donald Ramotar Administration for the One Laptop Per Family (OLPF) Project, a forensic audit has revealed.In May 2012, the National Machinery Import and Export Corporation (CNMIXC) in collaboration with the Government of China donated 28,145 Great Wall Laptops to the Government of Guyana. The total was estimated around $1,633,671,488.

However, more than 3,000 of the laptops had technical problems ranging from battery and keyboard failures, damaged LCD displays and malfunctioning of the motherboard.

According to the Forensic Audit Report compiled by Ram and McRae Chartered Accountants, CNMIXC provided a number of spare parts to the OLPF free of cost and even brought in two technicians from China to assist in rectifying the problems. However, due to the quantities of laptops damaged, the level of technical support was totally inadequate.

A physical count at August 5, 2015 observed by Ram & McRae revealed a total of 3,158 damaged Great Wall laptops.

On September 15, 2015, another agreement was signed, this time by the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) Government and Aerospace Science and Industry Shenzhen Company Limited (China). This new agreement has paved the way for the procurement of 9,609 laptops to be provided by China at a total cost of $1,631,000,000. The unit cost per laptop, according to the contractual agreement, is $169,737.

Though these new laptops are of a high quality and possess higher specifications than the laptops acquired by the Ramotar Administration, Ram and McRae alluded to the fact that “similar quality and specifications are listed on the international markets for prices ranging from $86,310 to $108,974.”

Overall, the forensic audit has revealed that more than 1900 laptops, totaling in excess of $115M are currently unaccounted for, defective laptops have taken the total losses to over $300M.

The project, which was the brainchild of former President Bharrat Jagdeo, had intended to equip 90,000 families with laptops but the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) fell short in achieving its objective. Only 58,303 laptops were distributed.

The audit has also revealed that the total distribution cost amounted to $35,291,406 or three per cent of the total cost of the project.

The average cost of distribution per laptop was therefore calculated to be $706. On the other hand, total training cost amounted to $70,750,427 or six per cent of the total cost of the project. The average cost of training per laptop was therefore $1,415.

EXORBITANT
“It is clear from the summary analysis above that 92 per cent of the total cost was incurred due to indirect expenses, while only eight per cent was directly attributable to the underlying objective of the project. We believe that the general expenses of the OLPF were exorbitant and could have been curtailed by management,” the audit report said.

But apart from expenditure, Ram and McRae found that the OLPF Project was poorly managed by individuals who not only lack the qualification but experience needed to execute the project.

It was disclosed that on February 1, 2011, Margo Boyce was hired by the Office of the President as a consultant to undertake the responsibilities of Chairperson of the ICT Hub, One Laptop per Family Initiative.

As Chairperson, her basic contracted salary was $150,000 per month; however it was not long before her tenure as Chairperson came to an end. In fact, it ended on September 30, 2011 and a new contract was signed on October 1, 2011 for her to become the Monitoring and Evaluation Consultant.

MASSIVE INCREASE
“Boyce agreed to a basic monthly salary of $400,000. However, the Project Manager, Mr Sesh Sukhdeo, in a letter dated November 17, 2011 to Dr Roger Luncheon Head of the Presidential Secretariat, stated that Boyce’s contract was amended and her new monthly salary was increased to $590,360 effective from October 1, 2011,” the audit revealed.

According to Ram and McRae, there was no documented reason for immediate salary increase.

By August 2012, she was appointed Project Manager at a basic salary of $700,000 per month until July 31, 2015, the effective date of her resignation.

It was noted that Boyce’s principal qualification is a Bachelor of Applied Arts Degree. However, she attended a number of short courses in supervisory management, institutional and organisational assessment, emergency operations centre management and operations, project identification and training and the project management skills course.

“In our opinion, these were not sufficient for the level of responsibility and the skill requirements for the position of Project Manager.   We saw no evidence of any advertisement or any application by Boyce for any of the positions in the OLPF,” Ram and McRae Chartered Accountants stated.

Situation was the same for the Deputy Project Manager Azariah Asim was hired by the ICT Hub, One Laptop per Family Initiative on April 1, 2011.

“His initial designation was IT Administrator responsible for the Information Technology Department. At that point, Asim was paid a basic monthly salary of $160,000. (However) He was promoted to Deputy Project Manager on January 1, 2014 at a basic monthly salary of $450, 000,” the audit further revealed.

According to the auditors, Asim had no professional or tertiary academic qualification. His principal qualifications were IT user applications including Microsoft Office, IBM PC/MS?DOS, WordPerfect 6.0, Lotus 1?2?3, Dbase IV and Corel Draw 7.0.

“An IT administrator is responsible for maintaining the company’s IT network, servers and security systems. This role is absolutely essential within any organisation to ensure business continuity – if an IT network fails, the impact on the day-to-day running of the business can be significant, sometimes catastrophic. Any individual appointed to function in the capacity of IT administrator is expected not only to possess general knowledge and basic software proficiencies but to have extended knowledge and hands’ on experience in hardware and software installation, troubleshooting and networking. The individual is also expected to possess adequate qualification(s) such as a degree in computer science, information technology, computer engineering or information system management.

In our opinion, Asim did not have the necessary qualification(s) or relevant experience to operate within his initial designated position and even less, as Deputy Project Manager,” the auditors further explained.

 

SHARE THIS ARTICLE :
Facebook
Twitter
WhatsApp

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

All our printed editions are available online
emblem3
Subscribe to the Guyana Chronicle.
Sign up to receive news and updates.
We respect your privacy.