By Bampia James Bundu
Workers at the National Telecommunication Commission (NATCOM) are at present in a state of panic after the president appointed Momoh Konte as new chairman over the weekend.
According to a senior Staff of NATCOM who spoke on condition of anonymity, workers at the commission were worried as to the security of their jobs owing to the fact that the president had also dissolved the commission’s entire board.
The source said they considered that a “warning shot”.
He admitted that there had been some lapses in the operations of NATCOM and amongst the workers and said it was important that the institution got someone who could tighten things up “and help the commission regain its lost glory”.
In an interview with Politico, NATCOM’s New Executive Chairman, Momoh Konte, described his appointment as a big challenge to not only him but also to his family.
Promising to prove himself worthy of the position particularly to the country, Konteh assured that he would live up to the expectations of the president by ensuring that he gave his best towards the transformation of the commission.
Asked whether or not workers should be worried about their jobs as he went about his restructuring programmes, he said: “I will not respond to that now. I will address most of the questions after my parliamentary scrutiny”. He however said he wished to have a good working relationship with staff of the commission.
Giving a background of himself, the newly appointed NATCOM chairman explained that he hailed from Koinadugu, Northern Sierra Leone. He said he acquired both his primary and secondary education in the country and studied for a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics at Howard University and Masters Degree in Business Administration at University of Toledo, both in the United States of America.
With a rich knowledge in Information Communication and Technology, Konteh is presently the Chief Executive Officer of Transtec International, an ICT and Telecoms company that operates in five countries across the world, including Sierra Leone.
The new NATCOM boss also boasts of an impressive CV in terms of his experience as consultant.
He is a member of the World Internet Society, American Public Policy Society, Society for the Advancement of Management Telecommunication and Minority Media and telecommunication Council, Washington DC.
He also worked at the world’s 3rd largest telephone company in USA, MCI World Com, where he served as Financial Analyst. He worked at the Small Business Development Centre, a Programme Co-Sponsored by US Small Business Administration, Mayors Parlor on Latino Affairs, Howard University, where his role was to write all technology business plans and marketing strategies.
© Politico 27/01/15
