Warren: Most persons don’t understand what NESol does

OSWALD WILLIAMS, chairman of the board of National Energy Solutions Limited (NESol), said its former managing director, Carolyn Warren, sought and received approval from the board to enter into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Universal Service Fund (USF) to develop community access point (CAP) sites islandwide.

The work of NESol is under probe by Parliament’s Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC). It is one of several entities under the Ministry of Energy, Science and Technology being probed following allegations of nepotism, cronyism, and corruption.

“We gave her the permission. She managed the programme after that. It was her baby. It was her kind of a programme. What we did was to ask her to follow Government’s procurement procedure, and she took off, she took over from there,” explained Williams.

Warren took ownership of the programme in the ministry, which provided Internet service for communities across the island. She expressed pride and satisfaction for the work done and also said that NESol was commended for doing good work and on time, including by the USF.

“I think most persons don’t understand what NESol does and what NESol is. NESol is a contractor. For example, the USF, both the director and the chairman said they weren’t aware that the work would have been outsourced. All work at NESol is outsourced. If it’s even to change a light bulb, it is outsourced. Everything at NESol is outsourced,”Warren explained.

“I served on the USF board, also as the managing director of NESol. Part of NESol’s mandate included the Rural Electrification Programme (REP) to provide electricity for 100 per cent – the whole island. Right now, they are at 97.5 per cent. In 2015, the Government rebranded and expanded the mandate to include renewables. When I got to NESol, they had done nothing with renewables yet.” See full story at www.jamaica.gleaner.com