ICT ministry asked to account for CHOGM funds
Feb 03, 2008
The Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has been asked to account for the sh4.7b it got to prepare for last year’s Commonwealth summit.
By Barbara Among
The Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has been asked to account for the sh4.7b it got to prepare for last year’s Commonwealth summit.
MPs also demanded that the ministry avails copies of the CHOGM and 2007/08 financial year budget.
Appearing before the select committee on CHOGM on Friday, ICT minister Ham Mulira and his permanent secretary failed to produce receipts and other accounting documents for the CHOGM funds. The duo has until Wednesday to avail the documents.
However, in the performance report presented to the committee, the ministry showed that the CHOGM ICT sub-committee spent sh4.7b out of the sh5.2b it got. About sh571m was spent on buying Blackberry communication devices and services.
Blackberry is a wireless handheld device with both email and phone services.
The service was introduced in the country in November for the summit.
A total of 154 devices were procured from Celtel and 100 from UTL. They were given to government ministers and officials.
Other expenditures included the sh279m spent on equipping the command and control centre at the Central Police station and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, sh193m on producing documents at various venues, sh109m on the accreditation centre and sh107m on allowances of ministry officials.
Another sh1.12b was used to buy office equipment for the CHOGM sub-committees and sh585m on setting up the main Local Area Network.
The Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has been asked to account for the sh4.7b it got to prepare for last year’s Commonwealth summit.
MPs also demanded that the ministry avails copies of the CHOGM and 2007/08 financial year budget.
Appearing before the select committee on CHOGM on Friday, ICT minister Ham Mulira and his permanent secretary failed to produce receipts and other accounting documents for the CHOGM funds. The duo has until Wednesday to avail the documents.
However, in the performance report presented to the committee, the ministry showed that the CHOGM ICT sub-committee spent sh4.7b out of the sh5.2b it got. About sh571m was spent on buying Blackberry communication devices and services.
Blackberry is a wireless handheld device with both email and phone services.
The service was introduced in the country in November for the summit.
A total of 154 devices were procured from Celtel and 100 from UTL. They were given to government ministers and officials.
Other expenditures included the sh279m spent on equipping the command and control centre at the Central Police station and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, sh193m on producing documents at various venues, sh109m on the accreditation centre and sh107m on allowances of ministry officials.
Another sh1.12b was used to buy office equipment for the CHOGM sub-committees and sh585m on setting up the main Local Area Network.