-Office calls it ‘a foolish attempt’
THE OFFICE of the President (OP) has reported being threatened with blackmail by a former staffer.
In a statement issued yesterday, the Office said Mr. Judson Lohmeyer, who served as consultant/project manager for the ‘One Laptop per Family (OLPF)’ initiative, “has written threatening the Office of the President with blackmail over the release of information about the project.”
According to the statement, Lohmeyer, who holds credentials from the US Peace Corps, and has experience in ICT, was hired by OP as the consultant to lead the pilot and design for the launch of the OLPF initiative.
The Office however claims that Lohmeyer submitted his resignation after being criticized for poor performance and disclosures from an investigation into his credentials, and is “now threatening to release ‘information’, unless he is provided with severance payments.”
But OP has assured that the “foolish attempt by this individual is unlikely to impair the administration’s commitment to the One Laptop per Family initiative. “
The OLPF is a US$30M initiative designed to be a part of Guyana’s thrust into the age of information technology.
The programme follows President Jagdeo’s vision for Guyana to be on par with the rest of the world in the ICT sector, which he has listed among the new growth poles for the country, and Government has set 2015 as the target when every Guyanese becomes verse in the use of the computer and will complement this plan with the rollout of the OLPF where 90,000 families receive one laptop computers free of cost.
Some $1.8B was allocated in this year’s budget for the OLPF programme, while the Chinese government is providing a US$8M grant to supplement the project.