Immigration officers warned about corruption ahead of UK training programme

Corrupt immigration officers were placed on alert by Citizenship Minister Winston Felix ahead of a training initiative being offered by the United Kingdom as part of the Security Sector Reform Programme (SSRP).
Felix told reporters on Monday after the opening ceremony of the training at the Guyana Police Force (GPF) Training Centre that Government was committed to probing every instance where an immigration officer might be out of order.
“It is possible that members of the immigration department may be involved in illegalities and when we find them, we are committed to dealing condignly with them,” he stated.

Despite concerns about the rate of Trafficking In Persons (TIP) in the country and the illegal passage of foreign nationals through Guyana, the Minister said he was not aware of any investigations into incidents where immigration officers aided in any acts of wrongdoings.
“We have discovered a number of different nationalities using our borders generally…The immigration department, in some instances, has been able to detect these persons…Some persons were arrested last year crossing the (Takutu) Bridge illegally,” he explained.
In this regard, the Minister underscored the importance of training programmes for immigration officials in enhancing the efficiency of the immigration department in order to maintain a balance between welcoming genuine tourists and keeping out persons with ill intent.

“In the world over, there is frequent movement of persons between territories and in that movement we have good people and we have bad people. The role of the immigration department is to provide a service, which is courteous and effective in terms of identification of those who should not enter the country,” Felix said during brief remarks at the opening ceremony of the training.
Local immigration officers will undergo the Risk and Liaison Overseas Network (RALON) training being conducted by the UK’s Immigration Enforcement International.
The training will cover three fundamental issues: the overview of human trafficking, the enhancing of interview skills when dealing with arriving passengers and overall increased awareness of the latest trends and concerns in the wider Caribbean.
UK High Commissioner to Guyana, Gregory Quinn explained that the Security Sector Reform Adviser to President David Granger, Russell Combe during his tenure in Guyana would be gathering information and subsequently making recommendations for improvement in the sector.
The UK envoy expressed hope that the recommendations would be implemented instead of “just sitting on the shelf”.