SEGAL donates CCTV, biometric access equipment to Foreign Ministry

The chief Executive Officer and General Manager of the Security Expert Guard Agency of Liberia (SEGAL), Mr. Momo T. Cyrus, has donated an assortment of vital security equipment including several pieces of closed-circuit television (CCTV) to the Bureau of Passport and Visas at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs worth US$16,000 (Sixteen Thousand United States Dollars).

Closed-circuit television is a TV system in which signals are not publicly distributed, but monitored and recorded primarily for surveillance and security purposes. According to a Foreign Ministry release, Mr. Cyrus presented 16 Samsung CCTV cameras, one recorder for the cameras, 16 rolls of cable for the inter-connection of the cameras, four (4) electronic locks for biometric fingerprint access control, four (4) magnetic locks and four (4) pieces of power supply control.

Also included is a one-terabyte hard drive for storing the pieces of information that would be gathered by the cameras. Presenting the items to the Foreign Ministry, Mr. Cyrus – also a graduate of the Gabriel L. Dennis Foreign Service Institute (FSI), informed authorities that his technical team will maintain the system for a year at no cost to the Ministry after which, they will turn the maintenance duty over to the Ministry.

In his very brief remarks, he informed the Deputy Minister for Legal Affairs, Cllr. Deweh Gray, that he and his team had come to honor a promise he made few months ago. Receiving the items on behalf of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Madam Marjon Kamara, Deputy Minister Gray thanked him for the donation; adding, “As we all know, passports are security issues.”

Cllr. Gray recalled that Mr. Cyrus had come to her office a few months ago and told her that when he was a student of the FSI, he became familiar with some of the challenges of the Ministry, including the Bureau of Passport and Visas, and so decided he would do something someday.

She disclosed that the Ministry had CCTV installed all over the building, but over time they got worn out and needed replacement. “We have been discussing as a Ministry to getting these kinds of equipment to help secure our offices and help protect our clients who come here daily,” she stated.

Deputy Minister Gray assured him that the items would be used for the purposes for which they were donated. She also thanked him for volunteering to maintain the equipment for a year and hoped that his technicians will train the Ministry’s Information Technology (IT) and security personnel during the one-year period.Press release