Senior Reporter
jensen.lavende@guardian.co.tt
Communications Workers’ Union General Secretary Joanne Ogeer is calling on Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley to fire the entire board of Telecommunications Services of Trinidad and Tobago (TSTT).
The request came a day after Ogeer called for an investigation into statements made by former TSTT CEO Lisa Agard that she did not mislead Public Utilities Minister Marvin Gonzales, but instead he received information that she did not provide.
Speaking at the CWU’s Henry Street, Port-of-Spain office yesterday, Ogeer directed her ire at TSTT’s supposed mismanagement and called on the Prime Minister to act. “I want to tell the Prime Minister this morning, you do not like embarrassment and foolery. Do what needs to be done. Remove these incompetent and inept persons from office. Mr Prime Minister, explain to Lisa Agard, Shiva Ramnarine and all of those who are still in the organisation, what is meant by collective responsibility? Collective responsibility is real. If the board of directors erred, then they should be removed,” she said.
She also called for TSTT’s Senior Manager, Environmental, Social and Reputation Management to go.
Ogeer said while she has no faith that much will come from her call to have the board dealt with, she is hoping the population will be aggravated enough to demand that more be done. She reminded the Prime Minister that the country is in an election year and the electorate has questions about last October’s cyber attack, which saw the personal information of the Prime Minister released on the dark web.
Apart from the dismissal of the board, Ogeer also called for criminal charges laid against anyone involved who caused the country to be misled through misinformation given to Gonzales
“We want action, by all means we want criminal charges laid if possible. We want charges because everyone who has misled the minister, who has misled Parliament, and who has fooled and attempted to cover this thing up by exposing confidential data, they need to be held accountable.”
Last December, Princes Town MP Barry Padarath raised a motion to send Gonzales to the Privileges Committee for allegedly misleading the Parliament on the TSTT cyberattack.
In November, Gonzales told Parliament, “I can advise Honourable Members, that based on the safety protocols that were triggered when the incursion was detected, that TSTT’s data and the data of its customers were not in any way compromised.”
A few days later, Gonzales changed his statement, saying there was some compromise. He also ordered an investigation into the matter.
The union called for an update on that investigation, an update on the company’s pension plan, forensic audit and other continuing issues facing the company.
Asked what the next step will be if calls for the board’s removal are ignored, Ogeer said it would be foolhardy to say that but promised that “actions will be intensified.”