The One Laptop Per Family (OLPF) Secretariat has postponed the second distribution exercise that was set to start in Region Four yesterday.
According to a press release the postponement “has become necessary following the recent surge in interest across the region over the past few weeks from new applicants, which is continuing unabated.” As such, the Secretariat said it intends to process applications from the new applicants before restarting the distribution exercise in the region.
It noted that to date 5000 applicants in Region Four have benefited from laptops and training.
The OLPF office said that it will continue to fulfil its mandate “despite the most recent attempts by sections of the media to derail the good name of the project.” It also said that statements being peddled in the media are false and “totally inaccurate and have been concocted to trample on the integrity of the project, as well as the hard working staff.”
Earlier this month the OLPF office had to be closed after large numbers of persons turned up seeking computers, and refused to leave after repeatedly being told that only senior citizens and persons with disabilities were being attended to that day.
On Friday October 12 persons had started to assemble at the Forshaw Street, Queenstown location from as early as 5am and by midmorning almost 200 had been standing outside. Residents became upset that the crowds were littering, blocking driveways, and leaning on their cars.
Later that afternoon OLPF public relations consultant Dario McKlmon told this newspaper that the office had taken a decision to suspend the distribution programme that day, but despite this the crowds remained outside the locked gates.
Several persons in the crowd said they had turned up because the office had called them, others had turned up, filled out forms and collected their chits and still others had simply turned up, hoping that by queuing up at the office early would allow them to “get through quick.”
