Blame the Government – Polygraphs will be conducted to find the dishonest

Jun 15, 2008 Peeping Tom

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Almost as soon as the government got into office in 1992, people brought out the microscope and the examination began.

It was not long before there were charges of corruption and favouritism and of placing square pegs in round holes.

Of course, no one ever tried to present evidence of corruption because when pressed, they all proclaimed that they would rather not step forward because they were afraid of one action or the other from those against whom they were leveling the accusations.

The government was aware of the complaints and in cases, actually conducted investigations and where possible, either handed over the people to the police or sent them packing.

Most seriously were the allegations that centered on the drug world. Ministers in the government were quite vocal about the society knowing the identity of the drug dealers. Quite loud, too, were the allegations that people placed to curb the movement of drugs through the various ports of entry and exit were actually facilitating the movement of the drugs.

A few, very few, were caught and that probably allowed the movement of the drugs to continue unchecked because indeed the remuneration was exceedingly good; even better than the salary they earned.

The government decided that the talk about drug money funding the economy and about the government tolerating the drug trade was too much and that the time had come to examine the people placed in position to halt the movement of the drugs through the ports.

One way is to test the honesty of these people and in the frontline are the people in the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit, because the regulations that established the unit allow them to act on reports that may not be entirely accurate but the unit has the power to investigate.

And indeed the unit has done a lot; it has made numerous arrests and successfully prosecuted the culprits. Not so long ago the unit made a large arrest of people seeking to smuggle cocaine in fish.

However, there have also been reports of members of the unit actually allowing some of the people involved in the movement of illegal drugs to go free. These reports have never been proven but the government found it necessary to investigate every rank, hence the polygraph that so many people now want to criticize.

The government decided to use the polygraph on the CANU ranks largely because they are contracted employees and also because they are in the forefront of the drug fight.

There is no professional person in the country so the government decided to recruit an expert from overseas.

The ranks were prepared for the examination and told that they would be given every chance to prove their right to be members of the unit.
There was no talk although the introduction of the polygraph test was announced before the actual testing. No one sought to blame the government because as far as the society new, the need for such tests could not be overstated.
Then the tests were conducted and the criticisms followed soon after. The very people who recognized the need to test the ranks suddenly became critics. However, the government gave everyone a fair chance.

After the preliminary results the government called in all those who performed poorly and asked them to explain the results. The explanations were most unsatisfactory.
President Bharrat Jagdeo was at pains to explain that all over the world people who serve in law enforcement are subjected to polygraphs. It is one means of weeding out corrupt officers.
Too much is at stake. The United States is convinced that Guyana enjoys the benefits of a drug economy.

In a recent report the very United States stated that enough is not being done to halt the drug trade.

Despite the best efforts this charge persists and those who enjoy blaming the government make it an issue to report the comments by the Americans.
Now that there is a positive effort to correct this impression those who blame the government are again seeking to blame the government because one source of their enjoyment is being removed.

That source is the accusation that the government is not doing enough to halt the drug trade.
The polygraph is just one of the interventions and the CANU ranks are the first among others who will be subjected to such tests.
Those who are now seeking to blame the government for conducting the polygraph tests are the very ones who enjoyed repeating the American accusation that has often been modified in this country to read that the government allows drug dealing.
No apologies will be made for the tests and the government promises to conduct even more polygraph tests and those who fail will be sent packing. No amount of blame will cause a shift in this decision.

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