A government plan to wire all district local governments on a virtual platform to popularise e-governance and minimise burgeoning administrative spending has been blocked by Parliament, Daily Monitor can reveal.
The House committee on Information, Communication and Technology says it will authorise implementation of the $60 million (Shs114b) project only after officials offer proper accountability for the national fibre-optic backbone phase I expenditures.
Ms Paula Turyahikayo, (Rubabo; NRM) the committee vice chairperson, who communicated a freeze of the new project to ICT Minister Aggrey Awori on Wednesday, told this newspaper yesterday that they are edgy about a repeat of sub-standard networking. “There were problems with the quality of work done under Phase I [of the national data transmission backbone infrastructure]; some of the cables were cut, others damaged and the whole thing was not functioning,” she said.
Three-phase project
Suspecting hefty finances for the project could have been squandered, MPs directed the Auditor General to investigate the anomalies, including complaints of inflated costs and “delayed and incomplete” works.
The report of that forensic check is expected to be released this week, which Ms Turyahikayo says will guide their next course of action - a fluid situation likely to keep upcountry government units off interactive virtual interface with bosses at the centre, indefinitely.
The country’s $106 (Shs2 trillion) massive three-phase project, pioneered by China’s Huawei Technologies initially at $30 million (Shs57b), has been fraught with alleged fraud and mismanagement, dashing hopes of a techno-savvy urban population to relish faster internet services.
Minister Awori told Daily Monitor in an interview on Friday that the contractors have fixed all identified defects and the installations that have networked the 27 government ministries, is now ticking well. “All the faults have been cleared and people have got certificate of completion. The facilities have been inspected by MPs on the ICT committee, tested and they are working perfect,” he said.
For instance, Mr Awori says, bureaucrats are now able to hold inter-ministerial meetings on line with live real-time feedback on screens, which has eliminated time-wasting and dwarfed expenses on shuttling between offices while handling government business.
Metropolitan Kampala and surrounding posts such as Jinja, Entebbe and Bombo were connected under Phase I but efforts to roll the scheme to upcountry stations is now in a limbo, triggering blame game between ICT officials and lawmakers.
Minister Awori said Parliament is scuttling efforts to demystify use of modern technology in conducting government business, especially in the countryside. “For practical purposes, phase I is ready and functional. It is Parliament holding back Phase II,” he said, adding: “We were ready to start long time ago. Parliament says until it gives us authority, implementation of phase II of the project can’t start. In fact, they are accusing us of commencing without their permission.”
But the legislators demur, arguing instead that they are simply doing their oversight role to ensure frugal spending public resources.
MP Turyahikayo, who is vice chairperson of the ICT committee, said: “If they (contractors) had done quality work and the first phase of the project was functional, why would we hold back implementation of the second phase?”
In her letter to Minister Awori on Wednesday, Ms Turyahikayo raised concerns over reported secret ongoing works on phase II of the communication infrastructure, allegedly being executed by the same Huawei Technologies.
Taking the blame
Mr Awori said he would take political responsibility for mistakes with the project’s troubled phase I, initiated by his predecessors but said care is being taken to avoid repeat of slipshod work. This newspaper has learnt that the ICT Ministry is already mulling linking the available national data transmission infrastructure to the international sub-marine cable network and opening it to outside users at a fee, ahead of the project’s expected $16 m (Shs30b) phase III.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Tabu Butagira
Quelle/Source: Daily Monitor, 11.01.2010
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