Opposition MDP’s North Galolhu MP Mohamed Ibrahim (Kudoo) has sent a letter to the Parliament Speaker Abdul Raheem Abdulla s requesting an inquiry into the awarding of a contract to a private company to develop a portal containing essential services and sensitive information of a government office, citing serious concerns over the matter.
Transport Minister, on Tuesday, announced that the Ministry had contracted a private company to develop a digital portal featuring all of its services.
Kudoo expressed concern over the matter while speaking with Sun, citing that it is not the best course of action to award the development of the portal to a private company while there are government portals such as ‘OneGov’ and ‘e-Faas’ to provide crucial government services.
He added that a portal containing sensitive government information can only be developed in line with specific policies under the direct instructions of the president.
Kudoo referred to a paper by Ministry of Homeland Security and Technology on establishing a framework for a revolutionary digital transformation which was approved during the cabinet meeting held on February 2nd. In this regard, he highlighted initiatives approved under the paper:
Creating an ‘Interoperable Open Data Sharing Platform’ to facilitate seamless data exchange between Government agencies and designating specific Government bodies to maintain centralised registers and repositories that serve as the fundamental ‘Single Source of Truth’
Establishing and recognising centrally-operated national platforms for delivering citizen-centric services and strengthening the e-Government system
In his letter, Kudoo expressed concern over a private company being contracted to develop a portal featuring all services of the Transport Ministry, despite clear policies already established under the direct instructions of the President.
He noted that while transport services are linked to the lives of many citizens, the Ministry has a past of corruption and the use of authority to extend unfair benefits to various parties.
As such, he requested the issue to be investigated via the relevant parliamentary committee.
In January, the Minister of Transport Mohamed Ameen said efforts had begun on facilitating all of the ministry’s services through a single portal.
While speaking to Sun on Tuesday, he said the ministry lacked a functioning IT department when he took charge of the office, which is why the portal’s development has been outsourced.
The minister further criticized the previous portal developed during the former administration, and noted it lacked adequate security measures and can be easily accessed by anyone.
Though the minister did not disclose the details of the contractor, Sun has learned the project was contracted to a local company.
 
During the last administration, Transport Ministry came under fire for issuing fake domains after altering the backend of the online system used to issue domains. Domain issuance was suspended toward the end of the previous administration due to these issues. However, the current administration has resumed issuing domain certificates after implementing improved security measures.