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At the post-Cabinet press briefing yesterday at the Office of the President, Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon stated that Government is committed to institutionalizing integrity testing within the operational arms of State and Government agencies, in its continued efforts to rid the public service of corruption and graft.
Dr. Luncheon explained that it is the intention of Government to make the practice of polygraph testing an annual ritual that will ensure the public can have complete trust in the authorities that serve them.
“The commitment to annual evaluations and re-evaluations has not stopped and the intention is to extend polygraph testing more, particularly into the operational arms of the State and Government agencies as the Administration moves to strengthen integrity testing within the service,” he stated.
Polygraph testing was first used in 2008 on the Customs Anti-Narcotic Unit (CANU), with all 32 members of the Unit being tested. Nine individuals failed and their services were terminated.
This followed allegations raised by the Commissioner-General of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) who brought fraud suspicions to the attention of President Bharrat Jagdeo after revelations by the company, Fidelity Investments.
Fidelity Investments had been embroiled previously in a matter with the GRA concerning the alleged smuggling of beer.
The move was initially criticized in the media and Minister of Home Affairs, Clement Rohee, had moved to debunk the speculations being circulated.
The Home Affairs Minister, who was responding to questions posed by the media on the reliability of polygraph testing, had said that it is internationally accepted, and emphasized that the individual brought in to conduct the testing was qualified.
“I can only rely on the expert that was brought to Guyana to do the polygraph testing. He is highly qualified; he is a member of the American Polygraph Association. He holds the number two position in that body, if I am correct. Polygraph testing is an internationally acceptable thing in order to determine whether your staff has a ‘good bill of health’,” the Minister had said.
Dr. Luncheon noted that the polygraph testing exercise re-commenced in May and was extended to include employees at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA), the Guyana Energy Agency (GEA), who are involved in fuel marking, and the Narcotics Branch of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) stationed at the CJIA.
No person at CANU failed the test this time around. However, of the 13 staffers from the CJIA, five failed, while four persons each out of 10 and 25 persons respectively failed the test from the GEA and the Narcotics Branch.
The Cabinet Secretary encouraged the respective agencies to act in a matter consistent with the way which the 2008 failures were dealt with. (GINA)
