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Eight more GEA staffers fired

May 15, 2013 News

 
…as polygraph testing continues

By Zena Henry
The Guyana Energy Agency (GEA) is apparently continuing to clean house based on polygraph testing. Between Monday and yesterday, eight staffers lost their jobs after allegedly failing the government-imposed lie detector test.
Kaieteur News was told that another batch of workers was fired, with six employees – fuel inspectors and marking officers – being dismissed yesterday morning. The total of dismissed workers now exceeds 20 within a two-month period. A staffer fired yesterday said that he saw the dismissal coming and has already secured a lawyer.
When Kaieteur News made contact, an insider who wished to remain anonymous, said he was meeting with his lawyer at the time. He told Kaieteur News that he was summoned by the GEA Chief Executive Officer Mahender Sharma, who told him that he was unsuccessful after taking the polygraph test sometime in September.
The source said that when staffers are called before the CEO they are asked to either resign or face dismissal after being told of the failure. Persons he said were also escorted out of the GEA compound and were asked to return property of the Agency. The source said that today he should be receiving his dismissal letter.
Some employees, who were dismissed, did their interviews in September of last year and some in January of this year. The staffers claimed that they were forced to take the polygraph tests and further ordered to sign documents that said they volunteered to subject themselves to be scrutinized.
Two senior officers were fired earlier this year as they did not volunteer to have the test conducted. Protocol states that staffers are not subjected to have polygraph tests done, but must volunteer before the test is conducted.
Staffers further alleged that questions asked during the test were unrelated to work and leaned more on the political end. According to them, questions pertaining to their affiliations and whether they had ever lied for a friend or family made up the line of questioning.
The Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU), the representing body, has expressed its disapproval from the inception of the use of the polygraph test as a means of ensuring the Agency’s integrity. Several members of the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) were among the first set of workers to undergo lie detector tests. They received dismissal letters based on the results.
The GPSU however promised a thorough investigation into the workers’ dismissal, but to date there has been no word on the issue. However the initiators of the polygraph test made it clear that using this means should not be the only basis for an employee’s dismissal. It was further stated that there must be a credible reason for using the test; that is suspecting foul play by an employee.
The test alone cannot constitute a worker’s dismissal since additional reason and evidence should be provided. For this reason, GPSU had stated that the test is not foolproof and cannot stand up to scrutiny.
Former President, Bharrat Jagdeo, during his time in office introduced the use of polygraph testing. He had stated during a press conference in 2009 that once an agency is selected then all the staff, from ‘top to bottom’, should undergo the test.
Despite calls from staffers and the GPSU for top ranking officials of the Energy Agency to undergo polygraph testing, nothing has surfaced on whether executives see it fit to subject themselves to the lie detector test, and therefore, “lead by example.”

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