NCN fires Admin Manager over alleged missing hose

The National Communications Network has “parted ways” with its Administrative Officer, accusing the woman of removing company property and taking it to her home for personal use.

The woman has since denied the charges and sources close to her have told News Source that the move to cut ties with the senior official may be as a result of her probing of a number of financial problems at the state-owned entity and her decision to remove herself as the Secretary to the NCN Board.

News Source understand that it was just around 6 o’clock on Tuesday evening that the official received her dismissal letter while she was at home. According to reports, while the manager was on leave last week, internal security turned up at her Diamond home inquiring about a garden hose belonging to NCN. The woman reportedly told the security officer who was accompanied by an Administrative Clerk that she had no such property for NCN and showed the workers, her own garden hose while questioning them whether that was the one they wanted.

She returned to work last Friday and allegations surfaced that she was “selling gas” to persons outside of NCN. A source close to the woman told News Source that the allegations “are a complete fabrication” since the Manager does not drive any vehicle and would only sign gas slips for NCN vehicles. “If they were to check the checks and balances they would realise that all the evidence is there and there was no way she could have been involved in any such activity”, the source pointed out.

A few months ago, the Administrative Manager resigned as the Secretary of the NCN Board of Directors after she was asked to complete Annual reports for the company. NCN may not have completed annual reports for a decade and it may have been for that reason that she decided not to complete the reports. But sources close to NCN’s management explained to News Source that the company had major concerns about the officer’s performance on the job. There were also concerns that she may have been utilising the services of NCN staffers at her home.

The Opposition led National Assembly has been pressing the Government to come clean on a fraud that was committed at NCN two years ago which resulted in the Chief Executive Officer being asked to resign and the Production Manager being sent on leave. The Production Manager is expected to be officially relieved of his position at the next Board meeting. Although he was not officially dismissed, the man has moved on and now holds a Managerial position at a private tv station which is closely linked to the governing party.

When contacted on Wednesday afternoon, the recently appointed NCN Chief Executive Officer, Molly Hassan, told News Source that the woman was on probation and her probation was unsuccessful.