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Dissolution of NFMU
The Public Telecommunications Ministry has completed the recruitment process for the Telecommunications Agency, which will replace the National Frequency Management Unit (NFMU).
The Ministry stated on Saturday that under the Telecommunications Act of 2018, provisions are made for the dissolution of the NFMU and its absorption by the Agency.
For this, employees of the Unit were asked to submit Expressions of Interest for employment prior to the May 10.
This was done “to complete the formalities to facilitate rehiring decisions without a break in employment of selected staff. This process was designed to give employees of the NFMU priority with respect to employment with the Agency”.
However, the Chief Executive Officer and another employee have since not acted on the recommendation. The other 16 persons have applied but only 14 were endorsed for the positions offered.
“Two of the staff members, including the current NFMU CEO, have so far not taken up the offer. The remaining 16 have applied and it has been recommended that 14 of the 16 who applied be offered positions.
Two individuals were deemed not qualified for the positions for which they applied and have and so far appeared disinterested in positions commensurate with their qualifications,” the Ministry stated.
The 14 persons will take up new positions within the Agency. However, it was not indicated what will happen to persons who were unqualified or did not apply.
Back in January, Public Telecommunications Minister, Cathy Hughes had said that the Agency was created to better regulate and monitor operations.
“The objective of establishing the Agency now is to give us time to put in place certain administrative arrangements that [are] necessary for the Agency to function effectively when the entire act is brought into force.
Some of the things the Agency needs to put in place are its internal Government arrangement — such as financial regulations, human resource policy, rules of procedure of the Board. The administrative procedure to facilitate the implementation of the legal provisions for licensing, monitoring, enforcement, and other responsibilities that are specified for the agency in the 2016 Act and in the regulations.”
Meanwhile, Consultant Andre Griffith mentioned that an order was signed to establish the Agency as a body corporate, and the Agency would have begun the preparatory work for the policies.
He noted that those polices would have to be assented to by a Board, which is yet to be established.
“The functions of the Agency are to be discharged by a Board, and that Board is authorised to regulate its own procedure. A lot of the preparatory work we have done is subject to the Board’s review, and [members of the Board] would want to look at it, refine it, amend it,” he noted.
The Unit was managed by Valmiki Singh.