Antigua and Barbuda
Mansoor Retains IT Portfolio
- Details
- latest tech
- Thursday, 03 January 2013 02:30
- By caribarena news
Antigua St. John's - Having now been removed from the post of Minister responsible for Information and Broadcasting, Minister of State within the Office of the Prime Minister Hon. Dr. Edmond Mansoor still retains most of his prior responsibilities.
Mansoor maintains the portfolios as a Minister of State with responsibility for Telecommunications, New Media, Science & Technology, e-Government and Special Projects.
Director-General of Communications Maurice Merchant said on Wednesday that the notion that Mansoor would no longer hold ministerial office because of the portfolio strip is inaccurate.
“That is not the case,” Merchant said. “Minister Mansoor has been the Minister of State all the time with the responsibility for those set portfolios, along with that of Information and Broadcasting.”
Merchant explained that it is only the latter two that have been removed.
“So he remains where he is. Only two have been removed and it does not affect him in any way in terms of him physically,” the Communications General said.
In his New Year Address, Prime Minister Spencer noted that “It is incumbent upon the Government, today, to augment its communication practices, build a better picture of the public sector information landscape and achieve a reputation for high performance and good governance. Given that Public Administration underpins all aspects of the business of Government, it makes sense to incorporate information and broadcasting as part of its mandate.”
Given the Government’s desire to re-engage the public through improved communication, it was not clear why the New Media unit has remained under the control of Minister Mansoor, as opposed to falling in line with Information and Broadcasting under the Public Administration Portfolio.
According to Merchant, the function of the office is merely an extension of technology through media as part of efforts to employ modern technology to discriminate information and creating new and innovative ideas for getting government’s information out and informing the masses.
In recent media reports, Dr. Mansoor is reported to have suggested that government’s inability to properly fund the office of Information and Broadcasting impacted it’s ability to operate effectively.
But despite these gripes, sources within the ministry have questioned the Minister’s ability to secure millions of dollars in donor funds to carry specific projects, despite his apparent apathy to both APUA’s telecommunications sector as well as the state-owned ABS Television.
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7 Comments In This Article
RE: Mansoor Retains IT Portfolio
BAPU
RE: Mansoor Retains IT Portfolio
mastermingler
To The Victor Go The Spoils!
Friends, with 2014 approaching, the Medium is the Massage. The Good Hon. Min of Ed is undergoing severe medical assistance. My Best wishes to her for a speedy recovery. The Senator is a weak communicator & is feared at ABS.
Quote:Pay Attention! One of our most important principle & act is to name, control & command ourselves to expect success & prosperity. Will it Work for the PM? You be The Judge.
Again, names are not mere words, they connect to Ancestors & define challenges to overcome. Mansoor- Victorious God Willing.
Revisit the recent acts of the Minister. Marketi ng is Relationship Building. Oh Gad!
John French II
Man-Sore
JD
xarxage
Watchful
Con Fused
First of all the article headline states "Mansoor retains IT". However the "Information" part of his portfolio has been moved to Public Affairs, under Min of Finance.
First of all the "I" in IT, means "information". So what part of the INFORMATION portfolio did the PM move to Min of Fin if he still retains "IT".
Mr Spencer, IT stands for Information Technology. They go hand in hand. How can you strip the "information" part and leave "technology". This is super dumb. Information is running the world all over and is stored on computers. You need still need computers to input, store, retrieve and analyse the data. Computers/Serve rs that require skilled, competent and knowledgeable people. Who is going to manage the "information" @ Min of Finance. Are we going to hire new IT people over there. New Information people.
The Min of Finance already requested another Min of State to help in his Ministry. We are hiring more people to the less work.
OMG this government is going to implode soon.
Young People R Watching Closely
Tecnician
Good Riddance
Ben Meade, Chelston Lee, Maxine Allen are just a few names of reputable journalists who had to run or were chased out of ABS!
Many staff were allegedly verbally abused, and even some brought to tears! I have personal knowledge of Journalists from other media houses were talked down to, and some even xxxxed and xxx xxx of government and UPP events by the ill-tempered Minister.
Good riddance i say! Hopefully ABS can catch its legs now but i fear the worst, because now Lovell will use it to replicate the UPP's propaganda, for Crusader will never get more than 7 percent of radio listeners!
Youthful Labourite
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