Tougher penalties for false declarations as Govt seeks to digitise immigration services

– working with US to install world-class scanners by year-end

With efforts underway to digitise immigration services at the various ports of entry across the country, the Guyana Government will be strengthening laws to increase the penalties for false declarations.

This is according to President Dr Irfaan Ali during a recent appearance on the Energy Perspective programme.
According to the Head of State, technology plays a crucial role in Guyana’s developmental trajectory. He noted that the country is now playing catch up to the rest of the world, and therefore needs to invest heavily in its technological infrastructure.
One such area that investments are being made in is the digitization of the country’s immigration services.
Currently, the Guyana Government is working with its United States counterpart to install “world-class scanners” at all established port facilities across the country, beginning with the main port of entry – the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) at Timehri.
President Ali noted that with these scanners expected to be installed before the end of the year, government will have to work on amending the laws to have stiffer penalties for false declarations.
“So, let us say you’re coming into Guyana – and this will happen before the end of the year – you will fill up your immigration form, your custom form, digitally. No hassle. You come in [and] every bag must go through the scanner… [And] we have to amend the law [so that] if there is a false declaration that is made electronically because everything now is stored and everything there can be audited electronically, and if there’s a false declaration, then it must have a very high fine that follows that. And this is for everything coming in and going out,” he stated.
Under Guyana’s customs law, the current penalty for false declarations is a fine of $25,000 together with imprisonment for three years.
Back in May 2021, more than $400 million worth of screening equipment with built-in state-of-the-art technologies were installed at the CJIA. Those scanners will help detect threats to civil aviation quickly and aid law enforcement in its fight against narco-trafficking at the main port of entry.
The new machines have automatic detection capabilities, and will allow the screener to manipulate and further examine anomalies detected in passenger luggage.
Two of the new screening equipment were deployed at the Passenger In-transit and Staff Screening Points.
The machines included a CTX 5800 Checked Luggage Scanner. The CTX 5800 explosive detection system (EDS), which is TSA-certified, quickly identifies threats in checked baggage.
There were also two Smiths HI-SCAN 6040-2is Hand Luggage Scanner, two Rapiscan 620 Dual View Hand Luggage Scanner and one IONSCAN 600 Portable Explosive & Narcotics Trace Detector along with other security equipment such as a L3 Pro Vision Scanner ProVision ATD and Closed-Circuit Television Cameras (CCTV).
According to President Ali, “If we want to be competitive globally, it’s very clear that we can’t do so in a straight-line manner. We have to invest and use technology to the best. Yes, there will be, you know, kinks along the way, but we have to manage that. So, we have to apply the best technology and work backwards and bring the population along.”
“And as we migrate more of our services to the digital platform, we’re going to take away human biases from the system. Because if there’s a formula that calculates your duties and there’s a digital trail, then there’s no human bias there,” he asserted.
Back in October, several electronic gates (e-Gates) were installed at the CJIA to streamline the processing of incoming and outgoing passengers.
CJIA’s Chief Executive Officer, Ramesh Ghir, previously explained that the eGates will help manage the increase in flights and streamline the processing of over 100,000 evening passengers annually.
“We anticipate this process will be 25 to 30 percent faster than the current system, allowing us to process more passengers,” Ghir had told the Department of Public Information (DPI) last October.
The eGates will allow up to six passengers to be processed simultaneously under the supervision of a single officer.
Travellers opting for self-check-in will have their passports and identities verified using biometric data, such as photographs. Once verified, passengers will pass through a physical gate and proceed to customs.
One major advantage of the system is its ability to use existing data, speeding up departure processing for passengers returning within a short period.
For added security, the eGates are integrated with the Global Resilient Critical Communication (GRCC) database, which works with INTERPOL to screen flagged individuals.
If a passenger’s identity fails to be verified, the gate will remain closed, and the system will alert immigration officers.
In addition to the eGates, an online Embarkation/Disembarkation (ED) form will be introduced to further reduce processing times. Travellers can complete the form before arrival, and kiosks with staff support will be available for those unfamiliar with the process.
These upgrades are part of the government’s initiative to create a paperless organisation, and enhance CJIA’s position as a regional and international travel hub. It falls under the new automated border control system that is being implemented.
The airport staff including immigration officers had to undergo rigorous training to prepare for the implementation of the new border control management system.
However, President Ali said there needs to be more sensitization and awareness about these new systems for the travelling public.
“They’re now going through the testing phase for the electronic gates and filling up the immigration form in an electronic way. During the testing phase, the challenge is one, there needs to be more education on the programme because a lot of older persons from the diaspora, especially, come in and that requires more support for them. So, there has to be a customer-oriented style of immigration to back that digitisation and technology process to help these persons.”
“[But this we also want at all the ports because safety and security and confidence in our ports and security system is key and critical for investment confidence, and also for the confidence of persons in the diaspora coming back home. The systems must work, and this is very important for me. We want to build systems that work, systems that are modern, systems that add to accountability and transparency, and systems that enable us to drive the economy forward,” the Guyanese Leader noted.