DEPUTY Prime Minister Manoa Kamikamica says SOLE Fintech was not part of the tender process for the Vodafone e-ticketing system.
He said this in response to a recent Facebook post by SOLE Fintech founder Semi Tukana, who claimed the company was still waiting for their bus e-ticketing licence to be issued by the permanent secretary for Trade Shaheen Ali.
“The e-ticketing issue is no longer a problem now, and it is not a crisis, it has now escalated to a disaster,” Mr Tukana said.
“Please don’t tell the common people to go and complain to the Consumer Council when you (DPM Kamikamica) hold the key in your hand.
“It is like you are the one who controls the firefighting grade hose and the fire hydrant and there is a major fire in progress, and you are telling the people to go call 911 or whatever.
“Please just give SOLE Fintech Fiji a chance, and let us show Vodafone how it’s done, and make a change in the lives of 250,000 common people who use the transport every day.”
Mr Kamikamica said he had seen the comments and found them “quite disappointing”.
“The fact of the matter is there was a tender done for eticketing so SOLE was not part of that tender,” he said.
“We can’t be going around and sort of going back on tenders when we are in this process.
“Like anybody that develops information systems knows, that there will be always teething problems.
“Very rarely do you have a system that’s implemented perfectly and in terms of e-ticketing, without making excuses for Vodafone, it involves almost half of Fiji.
“It is a massive deployment, and I would like to ask the people of Fiji – if you have any problems contact the Vodafone tollfree number 151.
“And we will sort the problems out rather than using the media.”