Zero tolerance policy for corrupt labour/ OHS officers- Labour Minister

Dec 12, 2020 News

Minister Joseph Hamilton during Kaieteur’s ‘Wake Up Guyana Show’ on Wednesday with host, Leonard Gildarie

Kaieteur News – The government will take a firm stance against corrupt labour officers and occupational health and safety (OHS) officers according to the Minister of Labour, Joseph Hamilton.
On an interview with a senior journalist at Kaieteur News, Leonard Gildarie, Hamilton maintained that he has a zero-tolerance policy for these officers abusing their statutory positions and responsibilities and will make no haste in attending to reports of such instances.
Labour and OHS officers are employed under the Ministry of Labour and the labour officers are responsible for enforcing labour legislation across all regions while OHS officers identify and assess risks to employees’ health and safety. They are also responsible for ensuring that appropriate safety controls are in place for accident prevention.
Gildarie had questioned the Minister about how he plans to deal with the perception of some labour officers being corrupt and the Minister said, “From day one, I have said to labour officers, I have said to occupational health and safety officers that my judgment on you starts from the 5th of August”.
Hamilton was sworn into office as the Labour Minister on August 5 under the PPP government and he disclosed that since then he has heard different stories about corrupt labour and OHS officers. He noted that there was no evidence provided in these reports so he could not pronounce on them but in any case where he receives a report with substantial evidence to support, the corrupt labour officers/ OHS officers “would have had a job”.
In giving an example of instances where a labour officers or OHS officers can be “corrupt”, the Labour Minister explained that persons would have made contact with him reporting instances where occupational health and safety officers might have pertinent information that would be given to persons in exchange for money. He also said that claims were made that labour officers were accepting payments from employers to rob employees of their rightful benefits.
Additionally, Hamilton had also revealed that Guyana only has about 20% of the required quantity of labour officers needed for the efficient monitoring of the labour industry. He said that an adequate quantity of labour officers is lacking in every region of the country, which has made it extremely difficult for the Labour Ministry to tackle labour-related matters in all parts of the country.
According to Hamilton, the central region- Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) only has 17 labour officers, which is below the required quantity and other regions have about one officer each which he referred to as “sprinklings”.

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