The eGovernment Project Execution Unit says the fifteen computers seized during an operation by the unit and officers attached to the State Asset Recovery Unit (SARU) on Thursday, (April 06, 2017), were in fact intended to be illegally sold by the Enmore NDC.
The Peoples Progressive Party (PPP) in a statement on Thursday evening, noted that the officials from SARU entered the Enmore Neighbourhood Democratic Council’s (NDC) office, located at Station Road, Newtown, Enmore in the company of Deochan Singh, an APNU+AFC NDC Councillor for that NDC, and took away from the premises, 15 complete desktop computers and 8 backup power-packs.
However, according to the Government Information Agency (GINA), the officials visited the entity to investigate a report that a batch of computers was about to be sold to “someone connected to the NDC”.
The PPP claimed that the equipment are owned by the Community Resource Center, a Non-Governmental Organisation, established by the residents of Enmore to hold classes for young people in the community.
However, GINA said “it has since been confirmed that the fifteen (15) computers were a donation from the Basic Needs Trust Fund (BNTF) and were intended for use by residents of the community.”
It was noted that the computers therefore, cannot be sold and therefore, the decision by the council was “illegal.”
The Agency has noted that the decision to sell the items was made at the NDC’s statutory meeting of 16 November, 2016.
Additionally, the computers donated by the BNTF were found in a state of disrepair.
“The units were improperly stored in dusty conditions. There was absolutely no evidence that the computers were used recently despite the PPP/C’s claim that the computers were being used to teach evening classes for residents,” the statement said.
It also committed that the computers will be returned to the Enmore community once it has been agreed that they would not be sold or otherwise disposed of.
