by Linda Straker
- Systematic failure causing excessive cellphone usage
- Monthly telephone bill of 2 former members of parliament continues to be responsibility of government
Minister Oliver Joseph has admitted that there are persons who are no longer in the service of the government who continue to be in possession of government cellphones, and there seems to be systematic failure that is causing excessive usage.
“It seems like there is some systematic failure since it has been pointed out that there is excessive usage which should not happen if you have a system where the cap is placed,” said Joseph, in response to an allegation made by a well-known political radio host, that the monthly telephone bill of 2 former members of parliament continues to be the responsibility of government.
The claim is that one of the bills for the period April to June 2019 is almost EC$70,000 with most of the cost in the area of data usage.
Joseph did not go into details of the allegation, but told journalists during the weekly Tuesday morning post-cabinet briefing that when a person exits the system the onus is on them to return the phone. “When a person leaves the system, the onus is on the person who leaves the system to return the phone, but apparently that did not happen and individuals who are outside of the service are still in possession of the phones,” he said.
“As a government, we must take responsibility, we accept that; but the persons in possession of the phones have the obligation to return upon exiting,” he said, disclosing that under the current arrangement with the service provider there is a cap for every user of a government phone.
“Government wishes to assure the public that it will continue its review of cellphone use with a view to combat wastage. We will continue working with the service provider to ensure that the plan provided to government is best suited to fit its needs,” said Joseph, who further explained that a review was conducted on the use of government cellphones.
Joseph said the review commenced because ministers were having problems with the services especially when there are travelling outside of Grenada and roaming has to apply.
if phones are one area where abuse is taking place then god help us with the other areas where large sums of money are being handled.
Absurd. How ’bout just turn the darn phone service off to that line. Govt. officials acting so impotent and unaccountable makes one wonder what use they are.