by Linda Straker
- Leaked government associate’s bill did not originate from within operations of Digicel Grenada
- Leaked document was said to be obtained by talk show host targeting an intern at one of the company’s stores
The telecommunications company with whom the Government of Grenada has a contractual arrangement said that the leaked documents showing the holders of all government phones, the numbers and the amounts owing to the company for the months of April to June 2019 did not originate from its operations.
“Following weeks of thorough internal investigations Digicel Grenada can safely conclude and publicly state that the leak of the government associate’s bill did not originate from within the operations of Digicel Grenada Ltd,” said a news release issued by Digicel.
The leaked document was first disclosed and became the subject of discussions on a political advocate talk show which is aired on radio and other online mediums. That political advocate is known to be a supporter of the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC). He accused the government of engaging in corruption after it was discovered that among the holders and users of government phones in the leaked document were former members of Parliament. The amount on one of the bills was approximately EC$70,000 for the 3–month period.
The talk show host said in a follow-up programme that he obtained the leaked document by targeting an intern at one of the company’s stores and begged the company not to terminate the employee.
Since the leak, Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell said that he is embarrassed by the development. Government has claimed that the continuation of phones by the assigned holders was due to a system failure. One of the former parliamentarians has since accepted responsibility for the abuse of the system and has written to the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance accepting responsibility with a promise to repay the money.
Distancing itself further from the leak, Digicel said it respects customers’ confidentiality. Digicel Grenada CEO, Shrivon Redhead said that customer confidentiality is something they take very seriously, and they have in place best practices to protect against the release of private customer information.
“When the allegations arose, we made it a priority to conduct an internal audit in order to establish the facts, ensure that there was no breach of information on our part and confirm that we did everything possible to protect the confidentiality of our customers. Our customers can continue to rely on us and to trust that we will treat their personal information with the strictest confidence,” she said.
Well if he requested confidential information from an intern was given it. Why is he not behind bars for engaging in criminal activities. I believe doing this is illegal, now let’s see him held accountable for his actions.
This is why Grenada needs a Freedom of Information Act where members of the public can request goverment records in relation to issues such as this . This will allow for transparency and accountability which is what is required to demonstrate good governance . Historical government has always seen the treasury as their personal bank account with no checks and balances in place to rein in frivolous spending . Unfortunately lessons may not be learned as I can think of the countless incidents where this has occurred with successive government since independence. And we are wondering why Grenada is in such a state and question the reluctance and patriotism of the diaspora to invest their money in Grenada . I love Grenada the food beauty and weather is great. Someone said to me recently Grenada is like your past a lovely place to visit but a terrible place to stay . I felt sad but understood where they were coming from . I hope to retire there sometime my prayer is that a new generation of politicians will emerge and do things differently. However if we don’t learn from our history we are likely to make the same mistakes . Also Grenadian need to be more woke in having discussions outside of political allegiance or else you will remain in denial about the ability of any government to govern with accountability transparency and effectiveness . I love my Grenada may God bless you