Tuesday
January18, 2004
V-SAT failure worries
Getachew Belay
By Tamiru Geda
V-SAT communication equipment purchased by the ministry of revenue has
proved incompatible with the system used by the Ethiopian
Telecommunication Corporation (ETC), disclosed sources close to the
concerned ministry and corporation.
Some years ago the Ministry of Revenue (MOR) ordered NCR, a local IT
firm, to conduct the purchase of the v-sat equipment, and then-after
to install the equipment. The communication and computer networking
system is very important in the implementation of the taxation system
at the federal level. Therefore the alleged incompatibility of the
purchased equipment has caused much worry to concerned high government
officials and especially Getachew Belay who leads the major
implementing agency-the Ministry of Revenue.
Information obtained by Capital revealed that the networking &
communication system was designed by the Ministry of Revenue to be
used to implement the Tax-payer Identification program. NCR was
obliged to purchase & supply needed hardware and accessories,
including V-SAT equipment. The IT company made the purchase and
delivered the requested equipment to MOR. The latter forwarded the
equipment to ETC – the only company in the country in position to
connect all the v-sat. During the effort to put the system in place it
was found out that the v-sat equipment imported from a certain
American company was not compatible with the system that ETC utilizes
currently.
It is said the purchased material is lying in the ETC’s stores without
any use. A senior official at the corporation who asked for anonymity,
told Capital that the purchase and delivery of the material was
undertaken without the participation of ETC. He said that a technical
team should have been involved to oversee the process so that problems
like incompatibility would be avoided.
It is said that the Ministry of Revenue is now using ETC’s latest
available network – the Broad Band network system, but IT experts
complain that the current communication system is slow and wouldn’t
provide the efficient connection they expected to get out of the v-sat
communication system.
“How could such a mistake happen” was the question Getachew posed to
his subordinates at a management meeting held a few days ago. Our
sources say there wasn’t a satisfactory reply for the minister’s
question, nor could the high level meeting find out the exact figure
the failure would cost the government nor what they could do with the
equipment which is lying idle.
The same sources also disclosed that ETC also contributed to the
problem by receiving the V-sat equipment without checking their
fitness upon delivery, thereby failing to detect the problem earlier
as it should have. Concerning the purchasing process some groups are
expressing their suspicion of foul play. The skeptics claim that a
brand other than the one originally considered was delivered in the
name of equipment enhancement. Capital also talked with Miriam Said,
project coordinator at NCR over the telephone, she denied the claims
indicated above saying that it was an old story told over again and
made the counter claim that NCR has already resolved the matter, she
said that all the problems existed only in the malicious rumors spread
by people who made them up due to private antagonism against NCR. The
public relations officers at the Ministries of Revenue and the Federal
Inland Revenue Authority on their behalves said that they were not
well informed upon the matter and instead suggested that the head of
the IT division at the authority is responsible. He, on his behalf
responded with a similar answer saying “I’m a new comer to the
authority and the deal, and it is beyond my capacity to give answers.”
But he admitted that he has heard that the system that ETC may
implement and the one already ordered by the IT company (NCR) do not
match. It is known that the whole project awarded to NCR had a value
of 4 million USD.
