est. 2007

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Beware the Trojan Horse @Ministry of Education

  One of the many observations made about the “useless” Auditor General reports is that the obvious corruption exposed private sector players to have been involved in questionable government contracts. Regrettably malfeasance in public office is endemic to how many governments govern in the region. Some will say it is the lure that attracts members…

 

One of the many observations made about the “useless” Auditor General reports is that the obvious corruption exposed private sector players to have been involved in questionable government contracts. Regrettably malfeasance in public office is endemic to how many governments govern in the region. Some will say it is the lure that attracts members to the political class.

In 2019 there was a debated issue in Antigua around a flawed procedure followed in the acquisition of 6000 e-books for $9 million used in secondary schools. The supplier in the matter was an Indian firm, FortunaPix. At issue was a license fee per user in the amount of $5 million not brought to the attention of the Cabinet of Antigua when the matter was considered for approval. This issue reminded the blogmaster about an issue raised by the Auditor General of Barbados regarding the inability of the Barbados Water Authority (BWA) to have meters read wirelessly – 2019 Auditor General Report Provokes a Yawn.

It was reported in Barbados this week 5th formers and teachers preparing for CXC CSEC exams next month will be able to access an application known as LernPrep for free up to July 31, 2020. The supplier of the App, FortunaPIX.

Fifth-form students preparing for CXC CSEC final exams in July, now have some help thanks to a collaboration between the Ministry of Education and US-based digital education company, FortunaPIX.

Students and teachers may now access the CSEC Exam App, known as LernPrep, free of cost until July 31. The test preparatory app is a product of OneLern, a brand owned by FortunaPIX.

See CBC Barbados report – Free CXC CSEC Exam App Launched In Barbados

Here are a few questions that spring to mind to what looks like a ‘sweet’ deal.

  1. The free partnership expires on July 31, 2020. What happens next?
  2. The partnership was consummated by Radleigh Consulting…a company responsible for “business and investment” NOT education. Can Barbadians expect an explanation about the “fit for purpose” capability of Radleigh Consulting?
  3. As for FortunaPix, will they be looking to send the Government of Barbados an invoice like they did Antigua and Barbuda recently? See – https://gemreportunesco.wordpress.com/2019/02/08/an-e-textbook-scandal-rocks-antigua/

With a revenue of $21M and “island connections” it cannot be that hard for outside investors to get a foothold in the Caribbean market at this time of need. Especially with the reluctance by government to operationalize Integrity Legislation. Is this another case of all that glitters is not gold?

 

123 responses to “Beware the Trojan Horse @Ministry of Education”

  1. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    Imagine Hal Austin, a man that talks about his scholarship to Combermere in the 19th century and the courses he took at various universities, is accusing me of bragging for saying that I was one of two blk people in a firm and never felt intimidated by the white people. Wasn’t he all over BU recently talking about white supremacy and blackness? Piss in muh RH pocket do. Maybe if he used Google more often he would not put so much misinformation on the blog and would have been better informed about Leroy and $3.3M Gate. If electronic citations are legitimate in academic papers, they are suitable for BU. What experience Hal Austin has in finance, development, planning, social policy or any of the many topics he pontificates on across BU? The irony! Stupse!

  2. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    @Enuff

    I stopped responding to you when you first revealed yourself as a liar. Plse tell me a single course I have ever been on BU saying I have done. Just one. Stop lying and people will take you more seriously.

  3. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    Did I say on BU? There Hal Austin is once again reading to respond.

  4. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    @ Enuff

    Stop the fabricating. You come on BU and claim I have said something. When asked for proof you claim you did not say it was on BU. Name anywhere on the internet where I have ever said I (me, Hal Austin) went to university, or any other institution, to study any subject and got any qualifications.
    Plse name one subject I have studied at a higher level. Just one and the institution. You are a disgrace and a brain dead idiot. Grow up and tell the truth, you buffoon.
    Sadly, some fools on BU take these silly remarks and run with them.

  5. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    “Hal, who was born in the Ivy, St Michael, won a scholarship to attend Combermere School and left in 1963. He then went on to study at Middlesex Polytechnic (now university), and undertook various undergraduate and post-graduate studies at Cardiff, Thames Valley and Bristol Universities. Hal also done a number of course at the London Business School.”

    I guess the author of your bio for this lecture Googled you?🤣🤣🤣

  6. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    @Hants
    Don’t plan on travelling again this year, but I saw this on the news yesterday

    https://www.torontopearson.com/en/healthy-airport

  7. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    @Enuff

    You are an idiot. First , you post things in BU, implying that it was part of a BU conversation; then claimed you did not say it came from BU; now you come on and admit that you Googled my name and copied stuff from it.
    You still have not said what course it was I claimed to have studied and where. I am not sure if people on BU find you funny, but your interventions say all we need to know about you.
    In an ideal world we should be polite to each other, but sometimes we have to deal with people are are just social vermin, scumbags, frauds, and fundamentally dishonest. You fit all those descriptions. You think cheap jokes are funny, but they show up the level of your intelligence.
    You have never come on BU and joined a conversation making an intelligent contribution without Googling, quite often things you do not know about.
    You are scum.

  8. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    @enuff
    over many years of competitive sports, what a player desired from the adjudicator (ump-ref-etc) was consistency. Their interpretation of the rules didn’t have to agree with every other ump-ref, rather their interpretation was consistent. They didn’t call interference on one team or player, and not upon a similar infringement by the other team.
    So yesterday you wrote….”by understanding that there are roles where competencies rather than experience/degree in the subject matter are key is sad.”
    Now today you write…”What experience Hal Austin has in finance, development, planning, social policy or any of the many topics he pontificates on across BU?”.
    Possibly @HA had competencies rather experience/degree in the subject matter? But today you are requiring experience?
    I suggest you are being selectively inconsistent.

  9. William Skinner Avatar
    William Skinner

    @Northern Observer
    We are back to the usual nonsense and hypocrisy. Not even CODVID-!9 can change the mindset of these party loyalists. There is not a single thread of objectivity in them; shameless defenders of whatever the party of their choice does.
    Imagine the nurses can’t be a part of BOSS because 85% of them don’t earn enough money to participate. Let us take what these two parties have paid so-called consultans fot the last 15 years and you will see where their collective prorities are. Nurses waiting six months to get pay checks etc.
    Save your breath. Their philosophy is simple : My party is right. The garbage continues. They only praise or “respect” you when you agree with their party whether its the Dees or the Bees. Same damn difference !

  10. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    @ Northern

    This idiot seems to have a rather unhealthy interest in me, from fabricating things about my attendance at a meeting the president held in London, to implying I come on BU and talk about education and qualifications.
    I talk about St Giles repeatedly, but that is not what he means. He Googles all the time and cut and paste whatever it is. He has never made an independently intelligent contribution to any conversation on BU, from Hyatt to the lockdown to online sales killing the UK high streets. When he has nothing of real interest to say, he makes it up and thinks it is funny.
    Here is a black man, who claims to have worked for a New York PR and marketing company, I think he has a serious problem. and was the only black person, apart from an Antiguan graphic artist, employed by the firm. Any self-respecting person, especially a black man from the islands, based in a major global city, and is the only black executive in that firm would be very suspicious.
    But no, he goes on to tell us he is regularly called upon to chair conferences when he is the only black person in the room – and he is proud of that. Pay close attention to his contributions to BU.
    The guy has psychological problems.

  11. Miller Avatar
    Miller

    @ Senor “Enuff”:

    (Quote): The guy has psychological problems. (Unquote).

    It seems the miller is not the only one who has your number in proving you to be the No.1 Lying Bulls**hitter on BU a position not even Ms Many P the accredited clown would want to attain.

    You must learn to speak your mind honestly and clearly (and we will respect you for it) even if it means going against the red grain of your MAM-led administration.

    You are not a genuine member of the political class; just another pimp and hanger-on no different to what “Slims” was to Tom Adams.

  12. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    Hal Austin I have repeatedly shown that you are hot air. That’s a fact. When you had the opportunity to skin the President (your term) you were nowhere to be seen at the mic. Yet everyday you’re on BU with criticism after criticism and question after question for the President. I ask again who have you provided advice to on all the areas you mount your BU soap box?

    NO
    Shiiite that went clearly over your head!!!

  13. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    @WS
    I was somewhat shocked when I learned what nurses are paid. Health care workers everywhere, have used Covid as a crutch to extricate themselves from the bottom of the pay barrel. Hopefully, the same may translate in Barbados.
    Duopolies exist everywhere. Their supporters behave similarly. And it has become more lucrative over time.

  14. Miller Avatar
    Miller

    @ Enuff June 24, 2020 6:02 PM

    We want to pose the question to you, again.

    Was it you who acted as the complainant to ‘force the CoP to arrest Greenverbs?

    What has happened between the blacklisting of Bim by the EU & OECD and Friday last?

    Or are you going to get into one of your usual tantrums and “Stupse” stupse away?

    Hal is really yanking your WC chain today!

  15. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    @MTA
    due to Covid the EU kicked the can down the road until Oct 2020.
    https://www.law360.com/tax-authority/articles/1283844/eu-delaying-talks-to-expand-tax-haven-list-due-to-pandemic

  16. Miller Avatar
    Miller

    @ NorthernObserver June 24, 2020 6:45 PM

    Noted, “NO”!

    But we can congratulate the current administration for being proactive even if it is one year too late after the Donville-gate affair was exposed.

    The most recent AG’s report about those massive financial irregularities and infelicities ‘executed’ under the previous administration might throw a spanner in the works in any efforts by the current administration to appear to be serious about cleaning up the jurisdiction.

    The AG in his report made it abundantly clear that legal proceedings ought to be instituted based on the evidence unravelled in his audits.

    We shall see if it will require ‘additional’ intervention by ‘foreign’ observers to force the local law enforcement agencies to do their job properly if the country is to be considered for any chance of removal from the EU & OECD ‘blacklisting’.

  17. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    BU Gang: You’re liar, a pimp, a yardfowl, dishonest, uneducated, not a true member of the political class, an insider of the BLP, a minister, Kirk Humphrey, a lawyer, not a lawyer, a project manager, pooch licker, fabricator, Google-dependent, jackass etc, etc, etc

    Enuff: Unbothered! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

  18. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    only 3 etc
    I am about to start a 4th one
    ✋

  19. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    He has never made an independently intelligent contribution to any conversation on BU, from Hyatt to the lockdown to online sales killing the UK high streets………………..The guy has psychological problems.(Quote)

  20. David Avatar
    David

    All of us walk with inherent biases, even you. Enuff is actually a very intelligent person which can be gleaned from posting. It does not mean there will not be disagreement on different issues. It is how we are wired. In fact out of disagreements good things can happen.

  21. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    “He has never made an independently intelligent contribution to any conversation on BU, from Hyatt to the lockdown to online sales killing the UK high streets………………..The guy has psychological problems”

    Yet I wiped the floor with you on the matter of CPOs, urban regeneration and private non-residential development. You know so much that in 2020 you describe HR management as box ticking. Then you have the nerve to portray Barbadians and Barbados as backward because you read books. Who have you advised on economic, finance, social policy, fiscal policy, planning, regeneration or any of the multitude of topics you speak with such faux authority and pomposity on BU?

  22. Miller Avatar
    Miller

    @ Enuff June 25, 2020 6:06 PM

    Well, well!

    A classic case of the proverbial pot calling the kettle black in this tit-for-tat display of vanity in a double-sided mirror.

    Now who is being verbose to a ‘T’ in this exchange in the black art of ‘lyingology?

    Yes, Hal is right. Bim is indeed a “failed state” as far as it its judicial system is concerned.

    For it is taking the EU blacklisting to force you guys to find the cleaning cloth to remove the years of dirt from its smudged and broken surface.

  23. Dullard Avatar
    Dullard

    The Dullard said shortly after the last election 2 years ago that @Enuff is merely the BLP version of AC/ Mariposa.
    And should be viewed/ treated as such. Enuff’s comments, are all crafted to fit and conform to the BLP narrative, so the truth really does not matter to her.
    Every comment from Enuff should be taken as being politically motivated.

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