Sacked laptop boss now at OP

Mar 17, 2012 News

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–    Enjoys same terms and conditions

“Tensions” over the implementation of the One Laptop Per Family (OLPF) project led the government to eventually let go of project head Sesh Sukhdeo, but he now enjoys a similar contract at the Office of the President.
The government has been shy in saying that it actually fired Sukhdeo, preferring to say only that it opted to accept in delay a resignation offered by Sukhdeo earlier.
“In the wake of the 2012 period of the implementation of the OLPF and an intensive review of engagements in 2011, there obviously developed some tensions and along the way the CEO offered his resignation to the Office of the President,” government’s chief spokesperson Dr. Roger Luncheon stated this week.
He said that Sukhdeo’s resignation was not accepted immediately. But when tensions developed, the government took the decision to accept the resignation, though belatedly. The fear apparently centered on Sukhdeo not measuring up to the task.
“Most of the work that had been done revealed that we needed to push aggressively to meet…the target of distributing 90,000 laptops, both its procurement and its distribution. I think that the work that was being done may have led some to believe that those targets might not have been met or might not be met and there was then this need to focus on achieving those targets,” Dr. Luncheon said.
Sukhdeo is still in the employ of the government as Project Coordinator of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) programme at the Office of the President and enjoys the same terms and conditions that he enjoyed while at the OLPF office.
Sukhdeo has replaced Rachel Dhanraj who served in that capacity.
A search is on for a new head of the OLPF project office.
News of Sukhdeo’s departure surfaced earlier this month.
Kaieteur News understands that Sukhdeo had offered to resign recently over grouses, such as functioning under the oversight of former Labour Minister Manzoor Nadir. Nadir was tasked by the former President Bharrat Jagdeo’s administration to oversee the project, but his oversight ceased when he was refused a place in the new Donald Ramotar government.
This newspaper understands that other senior officials of the project were not happy with the way Nadir was exercising his oversight of the project.
Sukhdeo had asked to be relieved of the post, but continued. However, a review of the project found that there were discrepancies in the way the project was being managed.
Sources told Kaieteur News that while fingers could not be pointed at Sukhdeo for any financial irregularities, it was found that some persons who did not qualify for the laptops, nevertheless received them.
In addition, there were other discrepancies that did not go down well with a Policy and Management Committee that oversees the project.
As such, it was felt that it was best that Sukhdeo should no longer continue with the project and that his offer of resignation be accepted.
Kaieteur News had reported on the fact that persons who were contracted to train ordinary Guyanese in the use of the laptops had not been paid five months after the training commenced.
The trainers who operate in several hubs across the country had claimed that all they have received since the commencement of their contracts are promises, but no money.
Information Liaison to the President, Kwame McCoy, who is the spokesman for the programme, has assured that the payments will be made as soon as possible. He acknowledged that there were some hiccups which stemmed from the trainers themselves, resulting in the present “undesirable situation.”
The former Bharrat Jagdeo administration had committed $1.8 billion to purchase the first batch of 30,000 laptops and cover all related costs. The Government aims to distribute a total of 90, 000 laptops free of cost and set up Information and Communications Technology (ICT) hubs to train persons in the use of the computers.
One component of the programme entails the hiring of persons to train the recipients in the use of the devices. This aspect commenced in October last year and involves four two-hour training sessions, three times a week, at a rate of $2,000 per hour.
According to the trainers, they are required to submit their claims to the OLPF office in a timely manner to facilitate payment.
The OLPF project has been mired in controversy since it began, and Sukhdeo was in the midst of that controversy.
A year ago, he was barred from talking to the press as the then Jagdeo administration refused a full disclosure on the project.
Sukhdeo lays claim to a successful career working with Governments and blue chip clients on innovation and development. He is a former International Development Director with the British Computer Society.

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