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Charles Ramson paid $1.2M a month as Commissioner of Information
…revised project deadline for E-Governance announced
The Guyana Government pays Senior Counsel, Charles Ramson Snr, the former Minister of Legal Affairs and Attorney General, in excess of $1.2M, as Commissioner of Information while the son of President Donald Ramotar, Alexei Ramotar is paid $650,000 a month for his post as head of the E-Governance project.
Commissioner of Information, Charles Ramson Snr
Both bits of information came from Prime Minister, Samuel Hinds, who was responding to questions posed to him by the Alliance for Change’s Catherine Hughes and A Partnership for National Unity’s Joseph Harmon, respectively.
Prime Minister, Hinds was also requested by Hughes to provide the House with the number of applications made to the Commission under the Access to Information Act and was told that no such application have been made as yet.
Asked about the staffing details of the Commission, Hinds told the House that apart from the Commissioner, only two other persons have been employed.
Government has also been footing the Bills for his telephone calls which it said is his only allowance.
Ramson was sworn in as Commissioner of Information on July 15, last year.
Meanwhile as it relates to the E governance project, Hinds denied that there was any extensive delays, adding that while the project unit had aimed for an April, 2014 completion date, this has since been extended to August 2014.
Hinds said that as it relates to the laying of the fibre optic cable, there was improper handling and installation of the cable which has led to some lengths of cable being damaged.
The Prime Minister said, too, that in addition to works on the four-lane highway on the East Bank Demerara, vandalism have significantly contributed to the delays of approximately two years in implementing the project.
An independent third party expert was recently requested to examine the project and make recommendations for satisfactory completion at the earliest time.
The Prime Minister denied that there have been cost overruns.
He explained firstly that there are two separate projects being undertaken, namely an E-Government Project and a Dense Wavelength Division Multiplex (DWDM) Long Haul Fibre Project.
He explained that the E-Government is an infrastructural project which aims to provide the necessary Information Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure so that the “Government provides better services to all Guyanese.”
According to Hinds, “This infrastructure is aimed at improving Government to Government communication, Government to Citizen, access to information and services and Government to Business communication.”
E-Governance Project Director, Alexei Ramotar
He explained that the objectives of this project is to set up a fibre link between Moleson Creek, Georgetown and Parika and a fibre ring within Georgetown to allow for a more efficient communication system.
According to Hinds, under the project, a high speed microwave link will also be installed between Moleson Creek, Georgetown and Charity, and a microwave link between Linden and Georgetown.
According to Hinds, the microwave network will be an active backup to the fibre network, allowing for the high speed communication between Government offices throughout Guyana.
He noted that the microwave network will be managed from the date centre in Georgetown.
Under this project, there will be the setting up of a wireless access network allowing for connection of schools, community centres and other government agencies with smaller data requirements.
“The technology being implemented is LTE-Advanced, a 4G cellular technology.”
The project is set at US$32M and according to Hinds, “We are within budget with no expected cost overruns.”
As it relates to the DWDM fiber optic cable being laid from Brazil, the PM noted that this project had its genesis in 2007 disruption in international telecommunications traffic for approximately three weeks “which caused the Guyanese community to be virtually cut off from the international community.”
The Prime Minister said that the project seeks to set up a high capacity, high speed terrestrial fibre network which links into a Brazil fibre which itself is connected to the world network.
Hinds maintained that this project is within Budget.
“While it has an estimated cost of US$5M…Approximately US$600,000 still remains in the budget.”
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