Laptop flip-flop

Feb 03, 2011 News

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Minister says she was wrong on cost

–    Instruments cost US$295 and not G$295,000
–    Lenovo reseller refuses to confirm sale
–    Model now out of production
–    Office of the President buys 20 other Lenovo
computers at US$585 each

Minister within the Ministry of Finance, Jennifer Webster, yesterday admitted she was wrong when she said that each of the laptops under the government’s One Laptop Per Family (OLPF) project would cost $295,000.
She corrected this to US$295, or about $60,000.
“I now wish to clarify that the budget assumes a unit cost of US$295 per laptop and not $295,000 as previously stated inadvertently,” Webster told the National Assembly yesterday.
The budget provides $1.8 billion for the procurement of laptops this year and Webster said that 27,000 would be bought. “Simple arithmetic would confirm that this implies an average cost of just over $60,000 per laptop,” she stated.
Opposition members shouted across to Webster that it was her faulty arithmetic and she should have done the arithmetic before announcing the wrong figure. In fact, when she initially announced the cost on Tuesday, Webster even sought to justify it, saying that the cost was “competitive.”
But for all this, she did not state the specifications of the computers. Neither did anyone involved in the project release the specifications. Sesh Sukhdeo, Senior Project Manager was elusive. Ever since the launch of the project he has been declining to comment on any aspect of the project. The government says that it intends to hand out 90,000 laptops to mainly poor families.
Webster also stated that the sum of $2.5 billion of specific financing from China would go towards the construction of wireless and terrestrial networking systems from Moleson Creek to Anna Regina under the broader Information and Communications Technology project that is being undertaken. A local wholesale computer distributor told Kaieteur News yesterday that despite the correction by the minister, the unit cost given is still inexplicably high.
“I really don’t know where they sourced the computers from, but quite frankly, if you ask me to get you 90,000 laptops with the specifications that I understand these instruments to have, I can get them for less than one hundred US dollars. These things are dirt cheap, given the rapid technological advances in the world today. And buying so many would obviously make it even less expensive. Somebody really needs to answer some serious questions about these laptops!”
A few weeks ago, Office of the President reportedly bought 20 Lenovo G550 computers at US$585 each.
But there are now more questions about how the laptops were sourced, and the actual laptops, with the production company saying this particular model of laptop is no longer in production.
The government remains tight-lipped about how the initial set of laptops was brought into the country, with the Minister preferring just to say that the laptops are being procured “in accordance with applicable procedures and rules.”
In Parliament, Tuesday, Webster said that the brand of the laptop is Lenovo, whose local reseller, Starr Computers yesterday refused to say specifically that the laptops were procured by that company.
The government has brought in a limited number of laptops, some of which President Bharrat Jagdeo ceremonially handed over on January 21, 2011. Two of the four groups to whom laptops were ceremonially handed over have told Kaieteur News they are not yet in receipt of the computers.
The President and Chief Executive Officer of Starr Computers confirmed that the company is the authorised reseller of Lenovo computers in Guyana and it is the company with the ability to provide parts and repair the laptops.
Mike Mohan, speaking via telephone from his Miami office, also confirmed that Starr Computers has sold computers to the government, but he would not specifically say that the laptops sourced by the government came through Starr Computers.
Kaieteur News understands that the model of laptop the government has brought in is the Lenovo G5550 with a two gigabyte memory and a 160 gigabyte hard drive.
Mohan confirmed that Starr Computers sells the Lenovo G550.
When contacted, the US main office of Lenovo told Kaieteur News that the Lenovo G550 brand is no longer in production. In fact, the company said the laptops were no longer being produced as of eight months ago. Kaieteur News understands that the government brought in the computers a few weeks ago.
The OLPF project is being administered under the Office of the President.
The Government Information Agency (GINA) has quoted President Jagdeo as expressing surprise that the main opposition spokesperson on economics, Volda Lawrence, questioned the rationale behind the project and the criteria to be used. “The criteria were announced and the money is in the budget… but to even question something like that… means you are seriously out of touch with what it takes to build a modern country,” Jagdeo is quoted by GINA as saying.
The government has not clearly defined how families could benefit from the computers. A flyer distributed at the launch has the bold headline: “Want to be part of OLPF?” But no clear details are provided as to how to do so, not even contact information for the Project Office, which is located in the Office of the President.
The information flyer stated that the government would provide home-based computer and community training support; reporting tools – access and print, view progress information real time; and an OP (Office of the President) completion certificate.
Community centres opting into the project would receive incentives such as subsidised internet access, free wireless router, and training material.

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