By: Jarryl Bryan
It has been over five years since the then Ministry of the Presidency paid some $19.1 million for a CCTV camera system which to date has not been delivered and up to press time, the monies have not been recovered.
Even more alarming is that the company from which the purchase was made is now bankrupt.
The matter came up before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Wednesday, where it was explained by Permanent Secretary of the now renamed Office of the President, Abena Moore, that the Attorney General’s Office is still being engaged.
“I wrote to the Attorney General’s Office at that time and I subsequently followed up and kept following up. I have not followed up as of last year. But this is a matter that was entered into and the CCTV systems have never arrived. According to the research we did, the company filed for bankruptcy,” Moore explained.
These very CCTV cameras, which were purchased in December 2015 with monies taken from the Contingency Fund for an “emergency”, were subject to questions in the PAC of Parliament back in 2017. Under questioning, Moore had provided the names of the company’s principals.
“(The contract was awarded) the 14th of December, 2015. Moonblink Communication Incorporated. The names of the persons (principals of company) are Shaun Birkett and Sean Nolan.”
There are strict rules governing the Contingency Fund, which is only supposed to be used for emergencies. But in the 2015 Auditor General report, it was found that withdrawals totaling over $900 million were made from the Fund, most for non-emergency purposes.
