Four Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GLSC) employees were fired this year for corruption.
Shonda James-Williams, the head of the GLSC’s Human Resource and Administration Division, yesterday announced that the commission took the decision to terminate the services of the four employees who it found to be dishonest. She was speaking at the GLSC’s end-of-year press conference.
Three officers were fired for unlawfully obtaining cash from clients, while the fourth person was fired after it was discovered that the individual inflated bills, she said.
James-Williams explained that the commission only learnt of the corrupt practices after clients visited the office and complained that they had not received what they paid for.
“We had about three employees who were terminated for cases of corruption. In those cases, staff would have entered into agreements with clients, issued receipts and collected monies in exchange for lands. So when those cases came to us, as a commission we acted in relation to our policy. However, in those cases the matters were not turned over to the police because the clients didn’t want to pursue the matter but as a commission we took action based on our policy,” James-Williams said.
She further disclosed that they had to terminate the services of a fourth staffer after auditors discovered bills were inflated.
“Another staff was terminated for inflating bills and had taken advances for going and do surveying…We had to terminate the staff because it is an act of dishonesty and it is against our policy,” the Human Resource official noted. James-Williams said that while it is difficult for the GLSC to stop corruption, they are addressing it as soon as they are aware of it.
GLSC Commissioner Trevor Benn yesterday called on members of the public to desist from paying for favours at the commission. “No one should be paying staff members for any service, they should not be speaking to them directly about any payment, and they should not give them any money to pay on their behalf. We have a very transparent system,” he said.
Nonetheless, he pointed out that corruption is often fueled by persons who try to get ahead or find an alternative to bypass the system. “A lot of the corruption is fueled by greedy people who feel they must pay money to get the service to get more than they are due or don’t want to wait their turn…we encourage these people to stop it because if nobody is willing to pay, there can be no bribery,” Benn added.
