Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr Roger Luncheon this morning confirmed that a number of computers have been discovered missing from the warehouse of the One Laptop Per Family (OLPF) programme and said that police have since launched an investigation.

Luncheon was unable to provided details on the probe but said that so far no employee has been interdicted from duty.

He said that the number could be as many as 103 and the laptops were discovered missing last Friday.

The OLPF has been faced with serious questions about the sense behind it and plagued by a series of problems. Critics of the 90,000 laptops-for-poor-families programme – the brainchild of former President Bharrat Jagdeo – was merely intended to win votes at the last general election. Critics have queried how exactly a basic laptop will improve the fortunes of families. There have been questions about training of persons in the use of the laptops, maintenance of them, what exactly they will be used for, the likelihood of theft and internet connection.

Several of its high-profile top managers have also departed under a cloud.

The procurement process for the laptops was also studded with controversy and a `gift’ of computers for the programme from a Chinese company engaged in a fibre optic cable project here provoked consternation.