Sylvia Bylden Blunders Again!
Following her thorough dressing down by the Parliamentary Oversight Committee on Appointment and the Public Service a few weeks ago, the Sierra Leone Civil Rights Coalition (SLCRC) has exposed the new Minister of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs after its findings on the serious of allegations the Minister levied against AFCOM, Sierra Express Media can authoritatively report.
The Sierra Leone Civil Rights Coalition (SLCRC) issued a news release drawing attention to the social media publications by Minister Sylvia Olayinka Blyden and the Platinum Media Group with regards the contract awarded to AFCOM.
Excerpt of the Minister of Social Welfare Gender and Children Affairs’ publication states: “Kambia District at office of Minister of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs. Here I am, Hon. Dr. Sylvia Blyden posting with core of my ministry Kambia District Staff. Kambia is where I am starting my whirlwind 4 days nationwide tour of the purported nationwide internet services at my ministry district office for which hundreds of thousands of dollars from donors (mostly UNICEF) have been expended.”
Platinum Media Group also alleged that, “Fake internet service from AFCOM Cripples child protected in Salone. Platinum media has learnt that a whopping $200,000 United States dollars was paid to AFCOM for the provision of broadband internet service to all Ministry of Social Welfare Gender and Children Affairs around the country.”
In its findings, however, the civil rights group stated that AFCOM entered into a contract to deliver on a communication solution for the 116 child protection help line of the MSWGCA with support from UNICEF.
The contract, according to the release, included the setting up and configuration of a call centre at the Ministry’s New England Campus; establishment of VPN network connecting the call centre and the ministry office in the 13 Districts; provision of internet through the VPN to enable dispatchers in the 116 call centre to transfer child protection alert cases to the District Officers and for officers in the District to utilize the child protection software’ and, supply, installation and configuration of the core network including switches, routers, servers and software applications.
SLCRC also found that “the solution offered to the 116 child protection line is similar to that offered by AFCON to the NERC for the 117 Ebola alert lines, which was one of the contributing factors in the fight against Ebola. AFCON proposed a similar solution where the 116 call centre will be hosted in their AFCON premises as a service, this option would have lasted six weeks to complete because the IT system in their office were ready to set up, but the ministry insisted they wanted it on their premises, which means they had to do all the construction, purchase and install all the equipment in the new building.”
It furthered that, “Since the signing of the contract in September 2015 and receipt of the initial payment in October 2015, AFCOM has taken some steps to deliver on this mandate. The completion of the task has been delayed due to a number of factors, among which was the delay in completing the designated building to host the 116 call centre. This building project was completed on 9th April, 2016 when AFCON engineers were granted access to the premises.”
Another finding was that, “The decision to provide internet to the district office was a temporal action that was based on the request of the ministry and donor partners to enable the district staff commence use of the child protection software while AFCON waited for the construction of the designated building to be completed and the proper solution designed implemented.”
The civil rights group also found that, “Contrary to claims made by the minister and the Platinum media that AFCON has received ‘Billions’ of Leones, Civil Rights Coalition learnt that AFCON has only been paid a total Le460 Million on the contract and the amount outstanding far exceeds the scope of work that has been done,” adding, “The Civil Right Coalition was also reliably informed that AFCON has to bear extra cost to ensure that the MSWGCA had network and internet connectivity in remote districts of the country.”
In its general comments, the Civil Rights Coalition stated that, “We expected that at least, the Honourable Minister would have made an effort to get full and proper brief on the background, content and other extenuating circumstances of the project as it stands.
“If this has been done, she would have understood that the reason why AFCON has taken more than five months to deliver what was originally a ten weeks contract.
“In its current state, the minister through recent publications has sowed seeds of suspicion and could affect the relationship between the two institutions.”
The Civil Rights Coalition concluded that the MSWGCA and AFCON should give clarity on such vital issue.
Stay with Sierra Express Media, for your trusted place in news!
© 2016, https:. All rights reserved.
