| – acting boss among themSeveral officers of the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) were yesterday sent home after failing their polygraph tests.According to sources, CANU’s Acting Head, Orville Nedd, was among the nine persons who saw their contracts terminated with immediate effect.The others sent home are agents Hariprashad, Mavis Davis, Chainsukh, Waldrond, Reid, Philander, Sahadeo and Herman.Last week, President Bharrat Jagdeo confirmed that nine staffers, including Nedd, were to be sent home after they failed to provide satisfactory answers why they failed the tests.Sources yesterday said that the officers turned up for work as normal, and made a drug bust at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) earlier in the day, but received their letters of termination shortly after.Kaieteur News was told that only three CANU officers were left at the CJIA yesterday, adding pressure to the already depleted team.The Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit was previously staffed with 42 agents, which was deemed to be inadequate; and with the recent firings, the agency could now find itself in a position where its work would be severely affected.According to a source, the sacked agents have pending matters in the courts and their absence could negatively affect the outcome of the cases.The source also said that the firing of the agents have left them vulnerable, since many of them have been threatened by powerful drug smuggling operatives whom they busted in the past.In an invited comment to the media last week, during a break at the GBTI’s Second Biennial Business Forum at the Le Meridien Pegasus Hotel,Adidas Craig Smith Jersey, President Jagdeo repeated earlier statements that CANU members who failed polygraph tests will not continue working there.“They were written to asking for explanations, but I gather the explanations were not satisfactory. I think the next move is that their employment will be terminated.”It was unclear yesterday who signed the termination letters.Three weeks ago, the President had disclosed that Guyana had acquired its own polygraph equipment.A foreign professional had been hired, and CANU staffers were asked to take the tests.Informed officials have said that the staffers who failed the tests may not have much recourse, since CANU employees are all retained on contracts which could be broken at any time by either the unit or the employee.The terminations of the employments of CANU employees will be the first time that polygraph testing would have been used in Guyana to determine the fate of the relationship between the state and any of its employees.President Jagdeo has also said that any new CANU officer will have to be polygraphed before being hired.There have been criticisms that the use of polygraph testing cannot be the sole basis in determining whether or not to fire an employee.A polygraph (commonly referred to as a lie detector) is an instrument that measures and records several physiological responses, including blood pressure, pulse, respiration and skin conductivity while the subject is asked and answers a series of questions. The system works on the basis that false answers will produce distinctive measurements.Speaking during a press conference last month, President Jagdeo said that written assessments of the CANU tests have been completed and were being perused to determine how serious the breaches were.The use of polygraph tests is becoming a standard part of the developing technology used by law enforcement agencies, including in hotspots like the USA and Colombia.Guyana, he warned, will be using the technology more and more to weed out the bad eggs.It will be a useful tool, since anyone who has to be subjected to the tests will think twice about committing any unsavoury activities, he had said.Jagdeo admitted that a specialist was brought in to conduct the polygraphs tests, and moves are being made to send a few persons from Guyana to be trained overseas in the use of the machine.There have been criticisms over the use of polygraph tests, since some courts are not recognizing them. Additionally, there have been many recorded cases of persons lying convincingly while being interviewed but no significant changes were picked up by the equipment.Many law enforcement agencies are reportedly using polygraph test as a means to have a fair idea about potential employees. It is not clear whether employees suspected of wrongdoing have been dismissed from employment solely on the basis of polygraph testing results. |
