Dear Editor,
In your news story, ‘Some CANU officers fail lie test – President says use may be extended,’ (May 17), I want to deal with two points. The first is of lesser importance because it deals with Home Affairs Minister, Mr Clement Rohee, who said that letter writers providing comments critical of the state’s use of the tests for CANU officers were “not qualified” to comment. Oh, really?
Maybe Mr Rohee, by virtue of his tenuous hold on the Home Affairs Minister’s position, considers himself qualified to comment? If so, would he be prepared to subject himself to a polygraph test to answer questions on the reason or reasons for the revocation of his visa issued by a certain foreign government at one stage? There are other questions for Mr Rohee in his public position, but this one would suffice for now.
The second point relates to the President’s adamancy in pushing ahead with his promise to fire those CANU officers who failed the polygraph test. Well, the results are in and we are waiting for the other shoe to drop! But while we do, let it be made known that this President continues to demonstrate why the PPP made a huge gamble and lost in 1999. He continues to make irrational decisions with matching irrational exuberance at a time when the combination of circumstances countenancing his regime demands rational thinking and decision-making.
Mr Editor, I have tried without success to determine whether any leader of a Caricom and Commonwealth country ever fired state employees who failed a government-sponsored polygraph test. If there definitely is none, then the President is on a path to be the first, and may well turn out to be committing the biggest political embarrassment of a Caricom or Commonwealth leader. It may also prove politically suicidal!
I believe I speak for many Guyanese at home and abroad when I say I believe there is widespread corruption in government, and not just CANU. I also believe most of us wish to see the government take corrective action, but rather than its exclusive reliance on polygraph testing as the means to this end, government should base its decisions on the findings of standard investigative procedures that would yield a paper trail that can stand up in any court of law.
For example, if CANU officers are living affluent lifestyles not commensurate with modest incomes, then government should have the GRA probe their physical assets and bank accounts and have them produce paper trail evidence which can be veritably sourced. If they fail to provide a paper trail and the GRA has no hard evidence with which to lay corruption charges that can stand up in court, the GRA should then check its records to determine if, based on the cumulative wealth of each officer, appropriate taxes have been paid. If no records of appropriate taxes paid exist, then the GRA should levy appropriate taxes based on the cumulative value of the officers’ wealth. These officers should then be placed on a GRA ‘blacklist’ for special scrutiny as they file taxes for the next five years.
The GRA should then become the primary body in leading this type of investigation into all other government employees, on all levels and in all departments and agencies, who interface with the public when providing government services. Polygraph testing may help government determine a person’s guilt or honesty, but it should not be the sole criterion for firing the person.
And to ensure there is no cry of discrimination by government employees, the GRA should extend its probe into private businesses.
There are many new businesses that emerged over the past decade, and the President is even on record praising Guyana’s “new breed of businessmen,” but how many of these new businesses were established based on illegal activities? How many of them have bona fide tax records with the GRA? How many of these owners are ideal candidates for polygraph tests sponsored by the government?
The President is already on record stating that he is prepared for a court fight with those he fires for failing the polygraph tests, but the biggest court fight he is already losing is in the court of public opinion. And nothing can be more painfully embarrassing or worse than to have lost the fight for the public’s confidence in his leadership.
Yours faithfully,
Emile Mervin
