
PARAMARIBO - Last Friday Home Affairs (BIZA) Minister Marinus Bee revealed that his ministry still has not paid the phone bill...

yet and that his ministry has to pay Telesur SRD 244 million. Calls and the use of internet racked up the bill. The administration of the Office of the Vice President and the Office of the President are also part of his ministry. There are 311 phone numbers which are not linked to any names. Minister Bee has asked how many people have a phone number that falls under his ministry but evidently there is no limit which means that people can make calls and talk for hours. But this will only rack up the bill. “This must be addressed. That is why I want to have a talk with Telesur next week to evaluate this matter because for October alone we have to pay
SRD 8.9 million. The budget of BIZA is SRD 1.5 billion and we pay about SRD 10 million for the phone bill which means that it is SRD 120 million per year.” The Home Affairs hardly has any money left for other projects and bills. The minister wants a reregistration where the numbers will be linked to departments. Minister Bee explained that he does not agree with the fact that his ministry has to pay the bills for 311 phone numbers. He wants Telesur to set a call limit to each number to keep the phone bill under control. The minister assumes that only executives are entitled to a phone number of his ministry but the statistics say otherwise. “We have to find out who those people are and where they are,” said Minister Bee who added that in the future each number will be linked to a job title so that his miistry can keep track of everything. “I can’t get a list of 311 numbers without knowing who has these numbers. This will also be discussed with the president to find out who those people are. It is a complicated issue but we will address it,” said Minister Bee.

