[November 26, 2009] Chogm Probe - Legislators Shift Focus to Shs5 Billion ICT Bill Tweet Nov 26, 2009 (The Monitor/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX) -- The parliamentary Public Accounts Committee will today demand accountability from the Information Communication Technology (ICT) ministry officials on how they spent more than Shs4.8 billion during the 2007 Commonwealth summit. The ICT team led by Dr. Jimmy Saamanya, the permanent secretary, is expected to be questioned on why curious payments were made without technical certificates of inspection yet various ICT Chogm projects didn't serve the intended purpose. For instance, the ministry engaged two anonymous firms, one to design the Local Network for Chogm 2007 Secretariat and another to build and install the equipment of the designed Local Area Network at a cost of $334,458 (about Shs600 million), but was not ready for Chogm. "Although the design was contracted in May 2007, by November 2007 (six months later) the Local Area Network (LAN) meant for Chogm Secretariat had not yet been installed yet this service was to assist in the preparation for Chogm," the Auditor General's report reads in part. It adds: "Installations appeared to have been completed after Chogm thus defeating the original purpose for which the service was intended. The Ministry had to incur an extra expense of wireless LAN at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at a cost of Shs58m due to delays." The committee will also question a Shs103.4 million procurement deal for 33 desk computers supplied for 8th Women's Affairs Ministers Meeting, an advance meeting ahead of the Chogm summit. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]