Law enforcement agents will be among those undergoing polygraph tests this year, as the government continues with its “integrity testing” campaign, Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon said yesterday.
At his post-Cabinet press briefing at Office of the President, Luncheon said that the focus will continue to be conducting polygraph tests on “identified members” within state entities, divisions and units. He said that particular attention would be on law enforcement agencies. Luncheon said too that the “retesting of those previously tested will constitute the vast majority of the activities being concluded in the 2010 visit.”
According to him, the tests will be conducted by the same overseas firm previously utilized and that process should commence sometime in September or October. He said that some of the finer details of the arrangement are currently being worked out but noted that the process should be completed by the end of the year.
Last year Luncheon said the government intended to make the practice of polygraph testing an annual exercise that will ensure the public can have complete trust in the authorities that serve them. “The commitment to annual evaluations and re-evaluations has not stopped and the intention is to extend polygraph testing more, into particularly the operational arms of the state and government agencies as the administration moves to strengthen integrity testing within the service,” Luncheon said at the time.
Polygraph testing was first used in 2008 on the Customs Anti-Narcotic Unit (CANU) with all 32 members of the Unit being tested. Nine individuals failed and their services were terminated.
The tests followed allegations by the Commissioner-General of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) Khurshid Sattaur who brought fraud suspicions to the attention of President Bharrat Jagdeo after revelations in connection with Fidelity Investments.
The polygraph testing exercise then recommenced in May of last year and was extended to include employees at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, the Guyana Energy Agency, and the Narcotics Branch of the Guyana Police Force stationed at the airport.
