The Minister of Communications, Johnny Al-Qurm, said: “the army provided us on Thursday , with a quantity of diesel so we can go on for 4 days.” He added: “The situation is dire. The money is there, but we do not have the right to use it, the telecommunications sector will not becut-off, but there may be a temporary or partial interruption.”
He pointed out, via a radio interview, that “the money is there, but there is no mechanism to use it, so a solution must be found. I, as a minister, cannot bear it.” He continued: “You should not think about privatizing this sector at the present time. I am against paying with fresh dollar, the administrative malfunction is in Article 36.
Qurm added: “For 18 months, the suppliers have not been paid, this led to accumulation. The telecommunications sector is not an island by itself, but is within the system, meaning that it suffers from problems like others.”
He considered that “there are several ways to deal with corruption without paralyzing it. There are contracts that need to be renewed. All sectors, even the private ones, are wasting diesel, so I asked for controls to be put in place to ensure that diesel is not stolen from communication centers and stations.”