Hello telekom, this is eps calling…just checking on my post-paid and data bill

 

AS the saga over hefty phone and data bills continues to unfold, sources have revealed that three more workers in the Office of the Prime Minister have incurred an even higher bill.

In the latest revelation, the trio, an all-female cast, had rung up a combined bill totalling $457,000-plus in the 12 months to December 2016.

One is a serving Executive Personal Secretary (EPS), the other a consultant on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). She has since left after her one-year contract had lapsed. The third is a senior officer in the Prime Minister’s Political Office.

Their bills were uncovered in a cost-cutting crackdown ordered by Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare last month.

Sources said the consultant’s mobile phone and data bill for all of 2016 was $231,000-plus. At $149,000 for the same period, the EPS was not too far behind. The third officer incurred $77,000 in phone and data bill in the same period.

This takes the trio’s combined bill to $457,000 in 2016.

The latest revelation comes on the back of an earlier report which showed two EPSs working in the Prime Minister’s Office had dialled up a total $285,000 in the 12 months to last December.

The earlier revelation involving the two EPSs has gone viral on the social media.

The Office of the Prime Minister has since disabled both the data and post-paid services in an effort to rein costs on mobile and data accounts.

But many say the action taken by the Office of the Prime Minister is not good enough. They say the two EPSs should be fired or be made to pay for the cost of their bills.

The latest revelation is set to ignite further debate as many see the cost of telephone and data as a waste of public funds at a time when many in the rural areas are in dire need of water supplies and proper sanitation.

It is not clear whether further action would be taken against officers who have incurred these abnormal telephone and communications costs.

A Permanent Secretary’s mobile and data bill of more than $400,000 last year prompted Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare to order an investigation, which included a request for printouts of all telephone and data accounts, particularly those being paid for by the Office of the Prime Minister.