It has been a puzzlement for many why the simple task of issuing a Police Certificate of Character has proved challenging through the years. It makes one question the competence of our men in ‘blue’ knowing that this agency is responsible for maintaining public order and safety, enforcing the law, and preventing, detecting, and investigating criminal activities.
The inability (incompetence) of the police force to execute on the routine task of issuing a police certificate translates to hundreds of ordinary Barbadians unable to apply for jobs because a certificate of character is not an optional requirement.
This routine but important task will continue to be nettlesome for ordinary Barbadians because ‘bigups’ can secure certificates through the backdoor or have this requirement waved with the stroke of a pen. Two Barbadoses!
Let us not forget the inability to efficiently issue a Police Certificate of Character is a symptom of a dysfunction society.
The following article has become very familiar to Barbadians, In fact, the public has become numb to this and other problems, Another symptom of a passive people.
Character certs hindering jobs
The Police Certificate of Character Office has been closed to the public since last week. (Picture by Jameel Springer.)
The closure of the Police Certificate of Character Office is causing headaches for several Barbadians, in some cases hindering them from finding work.
And what is adding to their woes is that no one seems to know when it will be reopened
Cruising Island Musicians is contemplating its next move after being unable to get the certificate for ten musicians.
Stephen Cox, one of the managing partners, said the company recruited musicians from all over the world to work on cruise ships.
“Currently, I have ten crew members from Barbados who have been offered contracts to work on board cruise ships to start in three weeks. They made the appointments, which were confirmed, and they went, only to be told that the Police Certificate of Character Office is closed until further notice,” he said.
When contacted on Tuesday, Assistant Commissioner of Police Richard Boyce said they were encountering system problems, but were working assiduously to have them rectified as soon as possible. He asked the public to bear with them.
“Everything has gone computerised now, so we’re working on everything. One thing leads into the next; it is not a one-off operation you have to do. It is a holistic operation that involves different steps. Even if you try to correct one [issue], another step has to go which is not functioning correctly; so that is the problem. We hope to get it resolved any minute now,” he said.
Nation newspaper (13 September 2019)
Thanks Amit.
I hope you just provide the numbers and ignore the comments.
My fellow Bajans can be very witty:
Mariposa will give you her ‘official’ count
Baje will include a person who murdered and buried himself, and then we have this gem
“We have to exclude the dead from the drug war. These are war casualties, not civilian casualties that fit into the statistics alone. According to my own statistics we have only 5 civil casualties so far this year..”
Some of these guys are just brilliant
“Everything has gone computerised now, so we’re working on everything. One thing leads into the next; it is not a one-off operation you have to do. It is a holistic operation that involves different steps. Even if you try to correct one [issue], another step has to go which is not functioning correctly; so that is the problem. We hope to get it resolved any minute now,” he said.
Paraphrasing “The system down”.
It seem as if the only system that works is the payroll system. These jokers are getting their checks..
If they could hook this into the payroll system, then the problem is solved. 🙂
Surely by computerizing the data pertaining to arrest for sundry criminal offences, a smoothly running operation would be in place negating long waits.
Not the police, but the party should issue such certificates.
Sigh…all of this is getting really old and really tired, but ah guess when corruption from the top is the norm and has been for decades, the rotten head just migrates downward to the already rotten the body.
I bet none of them told themselves that one day everything will just come to a DEAD STOP.
The MISEDUCATED in all their glory.
The requirement of a Police certificate of character is one of those things that were regularised and put on the overcrowded plate of the Law enforcement body.
In days of yore references from persons who really know and can vouch for ones character were acceptable. A piece of paper saying a person has no record of conviction for crime is not a certificate of character. They are more criminals outside of HMP Dodds than inside. Part of the encumbering Bureaucracy introduced by those who learnt by rote.
@ Amit
I do not know at what stage of your intellectual development you are at. But may I advise you to concentrate on those areas of social concerns which will lead to the proper development of fellow Barbadians. Do not waist the education provided by the taxpayers on trivia.
Is this really a job for the Royal Pollice Force? Is the return on investment of money spent training an individual to become a police officer necessary for someone to issue a certificate of character?
@Vincent Codrington, you have nailed it in your 7:48 post.
Never understood why this job is with the police force. Who is responsible in other countries?
Blogmaster David in Canada the police can provide a criminal background check. You go to a central police station pay your $80 and 30 minutes to 3 hours later you get a piece of paper stating you don’t have a criminal record. However this is only required for very very few jobs that involve you working with children or vulnerable people (mentally disabled) or volunteering with the same groups. For 98% of jobs this is not needed. Furthermore if you have some conviction for drinking and driving or until last year smoking marijuana it does not preclude you from a job. All It does is provide the employer with the knowledge it happened. In my opinion it is a complete waste of time for any employer to ask for this. Previous work employment, character references, personal interview and actually calling job and character references are what employers should be doing if they want to have an idea of the character or work ethic for a job. If I am hiring a person to work in a call centre offering customer support I don’t give a rat’s behind if he has a criminal charge of graffiti from when he was 18 or even petty theft. None of that will impact how they do their job now.
I can tell you I had to obtain one to coach a youth basketball team and the people there as well as the police officer issuing it all knew they were just wasting time. This is a useless and costly hurdle placed in front of job seekers both in Canada and here in Barbados.
Someone who is versed in things IT said straight up, these are JOKERS, they could have a backup system/computer running and dispensing certificates WHILST…upgrading the current system….REAL PROGRAMMERS do this as a matter of course…..and with their eyes closed
this shallow excuse is being attributed to outright LAZINESS.
Black Hawk Down , Again! next need to be COP& Crime Minister Down!
@WURA-War-on-U – September 13, 2019 11:56 AM
Correct…..a good IT team would have two systems (ie: a backup) operating….one keeping the ‘old’ system working so people can get certificates as the upgrade the data into the ‘new’ system. When all updated on the new system and seamless switch-over so the public not held to ransom! Poor planning!!!
David
A certificate of character is discrminatory and the need for one is nonsense. We need to be more progressive, a simple question on the application form is enough, with the employer following up with the relevant department if necessary.
Lawd come for your world…I find myself agreeing with Enuff. However, it is necessary to perform vetting for some functions.
I would also recommend that young men and women be very careful with who they choose as character references. Some Bajans are so ‘honest’ (euphemism for a lot of things), you would never get a job after they act as your reference…
@enuff
It commits scarce resources. Why has the AG across administrations have not addressed the matter?
” Police Richard Boyce said they were encountering system problems, but were working assiduously to have them rectified as soon as possible. He asked the public to bear with them.”
“Everything has gone computerised now, so we’re working on everything. One thing leads into the next; it is not a one-off operation you have to do. It is a holistic operation that involves different steps. Even if you try to correct one [issue], another step has to go which is not functioning correctly; so that is the problem. We hope to get it resolved any minute now,”
I would bet my last dollar that this fellow had some schoolin in the USA. He has mastered the art of BSing and seem to think that BS sprinkled with a few ‘big’ words will pass as an explanation.
Son, we are past that stage.. put up or shut up. If you van’t get the job done.then resign.
This cannot be a complicated operation. If it is a well designed system with redundancy built in there should not be the many disruptions. What if other services in Barbados operated similarly?
I thought we did this story and moved on…
https://barbadostoday.bb/2019/09/13/double-divide/
“The other vendor declined to be named but joined Lovell’s comments and said she even offered to pay the school to sell on the premises”.
That is why you will always get the shaft. Named or not.. you are outside looking in. Grow a pair and stand for something.
@Enuff
Why is a Certificate of Character discriminatory? Who is being discriminated against? Have you ever employed anyone?
“When all updated on the new system and seamless switch-over so the public not held to ransom! Poor planning!!!”
yep..
Sargeant
So I have to be an employer to know a certificate of character is nonsense? Ok. You get through. But I maintain it ain’t necessary, a simple section on the application form for the applicant to fill out and the employee runs the background check. Yes, TheOgas for particular jobs certain offences would be a no but the application would pick that up and the check.
The police too busy ordering women out of the building because said women are wearing “arm holes” even though the women are wearing the full dress, and not just the arm holes.
First things first.
Act like a misogynistic taliban, keep people from finding work.
Good boys.
Take a breath.
The policemen doing a job.
The authorities will have to decide if issuing a certificate of character is a job for the police.
It is every Bajan woman’s first duty to cover arms while in public, even if as today the temperature is 32 C and the humidity nearly 100.
If Bajan women do not cover their arms it will be the women’s fault if the men get erections at work and are rendered incapable of doing their jobs. Who knows the world might even come to an end.
Everything in life is a woman’s fault.
No it ain’t boys.
Try and get on with the jobs that the tax payers pay and pension you so well to do
@DavidSeptember 13, 2019 6:22 PM “It commits scarce resources. Why has the AG across administrations have not addressed the matter?”
Because we as a people too love to mistake form for substance.
@TheoGAzertsSeptember 13, 2019 6:40 PM ““The other vendor declined to be named but joined Lovell’s comments and said she even offered to pay the school to sell on the premises”.
This school is in the constituency of Minister of Eduction Santia Bradshaw isn’t it? Is this not the same Minister who was at the Grantley Admas school hugging up the vendors and permitting them to continue selling.
Does the government yet have a written policy on vendors or no vendors. And is the policy even and fair handed across all schools.
And if this policy has not yet been written, why not?
And when can we expect it?
i know that ms. Bradshaw was on sick leave, but was not Ms. Moe acting in her place?
After over a half century of self government, the Duopoly cannot even work out drivers license and certificates of character.
The Duopoly Rules
The issue isn’t about the ability of the Police Dept.to deliver Certs in a timely manner, it is the inability to get anything done expeditiously in Barbados. 90% of Service providers and I include corporate Barbados operate at two speeds “Dead slow” and “Stop”; when last did you hear someone say they are making a “quick run” to the Bank? After we outsource Certs of Character what next? TCP? CAIPO? Will we ask the Chinese to fix the “burst” pipes that go unattended despite several calls to BWA? I can go on but wunnah know de drill……..
Mr Blogmaster iIcoming in late – literally and figuratively – so let me jump in response to comments above…first yours… You said: “Never understood why this job is with the police force. Who is responsible in other countries?”….I ‘gots to believe’ that this is a relic of the Brits but in this modern era it’s total BS.
The reason behind any such certification is what the Yankees and the other northerns further up (here!) would call a BACK GROUND check…so that’s a response as I know it to the last part of your statement. I don’t know what the Brits or Europeans do but regardless it can’t be as archaic or counter initiative as this process.
I would agree with @Sargeant that the certificate itself is not discriminatory but it certainly would seem as such!
And as @Enuff rightly noted: “But I maintain it ain’t necessary, a simple section on the application form for the applicant to fill out and the EMPLOYER (surely that’s what he meant to write) RUNS THE BACKGROUND CHECK (my emphasis).”
For all practical purposes how de HECK do we think this wprks! The EMPLOYEE CANNOT TOUCH that certificate …meaning he cant have access to it and handle it before it reaches its final destination…if he did how can the employer knows he/she has not modified it!
My point is that it’s therefore BS that the employee is tasked to get the certificate of character. As suggested above this should be a process between the employer and the agency doing the investigation…with obvious relevant safeguards to protect privacy (signature of individual being certified on job application form giving the relevant permissions etc).
Long story short…the certificate paper is but the last step of the review of the person’s interface with criminal matters and so on, and the employer MUST be able to trust that it’s valid and thus it should be more directly linked to the sourcing agency!
This is less to do with nothing working in Bim and more to do with an archaic process that appears to need serious revamp..which goes to your point Mr Blogmaster “Why has the AG across administrations have not addressed the matter?’
And yes background checks are obviously necessary in many jobs..most folks do NOT want to employ past convicted citizens…unfortunate but it’s what it is!
When IFT systems break down it is not usually a simple matter.
This is especially so when the package is purchased off the shelf ,adapted to local use and the local operators are not fully trained. Very often the source code is not delivered to the purchaser. Computerizing systems is not a panacea, especially when the system is inefficient as well. Garbage in ; garbage out.
Should we not start by beefing up GoB Data processing Dept,with highly trained software engineers? We have a highly educated labour force. Where are the bottle necks? What happened to the Systems Analysts that were located in the Ministry of the Public Service?
We do have a tendency in this country to throw out the good with the bad; the baby with the dirty bath water.
But when one starts wrong, one ends wrong.
Carry on smartly.
Outsourcing is an ideology. We must do what is best for a society of just over a quarter of a million of citizens. When there is no vision the people perish. There are many things in life one should not copy blindly.
Prior to the change in GHE staffing at Barbados Underground and the Honourable Blogmaster , of one thing the readers could be assured was the topics and content of the Blog.
At any time, the blog had 5, 6 or 7 topics that were CONTENDING with each other for comments.
Nowadays, it barely scrapes one and sometimes 2.
And then we fall into the pattern of
1.a topic about bajan whites and blacks even if it starts with a white black issue in Amurica or Englant
2.a topic about Obama, Trump and Boris where everyone talks bout American or British or Canadian politics that the know diddley bout
Or
3.start a topic bout Mugabe Mottley AND DEN CLOSE IT DOEN under some pretext when things get hot.
And, like wind up donkeys, we the peeple AND THE SHEEPLE go for it everytime.
A JOB WELL DONE by the original Blogmaster when he sold out to the Establishment
Piece…looks like ya getting bored, you must check out the Medical Marijuana Barbados blog on facebook where things are surely moving forward or are supposed to anyway, seems like some headway was made today..
True. The content has been lacking of late. Not much to sink your teeth into.
The blogmaster can say the same about comments posted. Always quarrelling about the trivial, of a personal nature even if posters are in the majority anonymous. To be honest, it demotivates. It does not inspire anybody to spend time doing anything. Despite this we will try.
#purebs
@ WURU
Never underestimate the ability of the Duopoly to either wear you down or eventually get you to join them. They have great skills in these areas.
Note how they easily get their followers to continuously drink the cool aid; note how they marginalize those who oppose them or offer them some goodies they can’t refuse.
It’s all theatre to them ; nothing to do with the well being of the masses, who look like the majority of them.
The Duopoly Rules
@ Piece the Legend September 14, 2019 1:08 PM
We are not experiencing a calm time because Charles Jong has taken over BU, but simply because the new government is not causing any real scandals.
What is marketed here as so-called scandal is normal government action. It was quite different with Cahill, Apes Hill and so on.
But now back to my rice bowl.
“Never underestimate the ability of the Duopoly to either wear you down or eventually get you to join them. They have great skills in these areas.”
I noticed, they move swiftly to shut down what they deem dissent, especially if it has anything to do with the wellbeing and wealth generation for the majority population, and they still don’t think it should happen, me thinks they will need some convincing, because these are different times, a new era with different mentalitites that are not easily swayed.
and ya done know how difficult some of us can be.
@ Tron at@ 2.07 PM
“back to your rice bowl? Where you ricing now, Boazee? Simple Simon eating pudding and souse with yellow meat breadfruit and you ricing? You are two foodies! I glad to hear that wuhnuh aint eating scratch grain.
Stupse people with as much depth as a teaspoon complaning about the meatyness of topics and of course in doing so must start some conspiracy. 🤣🤣
@ Vincent Codrington September 14, 2019 5:28 PM
Ask Enuff what “rice bowl” refers to.
The Nation newspaper of September 13, 2019 on this topic says ‘ Paper Pain ‘……but alarmingly the body of the article did NOT make one mention of ‘ paper ‘ in any form.
Why ?
Because the Fourth Estate in this country is hell bent on giving this administration a ‘ free pass ‘
Here is the true story .
Lucille Moe and Sandra Phillips as Minister & Permanent Secretary responsible for the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, respectively….stopped the Government Printing Department from producing the Certificate of Character Receipt Books.
Why ?
Because these 2 arrogant ladies decided – amongst themselves – that these services MUST be digitised ?
Who are the web site developers ?
Minister Moe relatives and those of PS Phillips !
So thousands of Barbadians remain at the MERCY of these 2 CROOKS !
While the Government Printing Department remains BLOCKED from printing the Certificates of Character Receipts …….as manadated by law.
Now remember these are the said 2 ladies that Melba Smith & Sharon Johnson……resigned from CBC …under their leadership of CBC
2 big time CROOKS !
TIME WILL REVEAL ALL !
A JOB WELL DONE by the original Blogmaster when he sold out to the Establishment
BU has had a good run of 10+ years. The Original David did a fantastic job. Sadly, nothing lasts forever.
@ Fractured BLP
There is a thing about teifing by ministers whether DLP OR BLP dem cannot teif in silence.
Somebody else always knows that you have TEIFED.
And this is why Mugabe trying to get de MeMoney scheme deployed.
Let de ole man show you how dis ting going wuk.
I going axe you a question
How many people in Barbados does need a character certificate eack year?
5,000? How you know Fractured BLP?
And how much does each certificate cost? $100?
DAT IS 1/2 MILLION DOLLARS RIGHT DERE RIGHT?
so tell de ole man Fractured when 5,000 people come to my cousin computer setup and apply for a certificate of character AND I ONLY DECLARE 2,500 APPLICATIONS how Leighton Trotman THD ACCOUNTANT GENERAL going know who is who?
Or which one of Mugabe’s poochlickers teif QUARTER OF A MILLION DOLLARS?
http://imgur.com/1zLtF2e
“Ms. McConney disclosed that some of the programmes which would facilitate the digitization of the public sector were part of an Inter-American Development Bank US $40 million loan, and they were in the process of completing the paperwork.
There were other e-services, however, where public invitations to bid on the provision of those services were already issued, she said, such as “the Police Certificate of Character and liquor licence process” as well as the provision of free Wi-Fi in Bridgetown – one of the major components of the Smart City initiative.”
How Moe and her PS unilaterally decided to digitise a function? Any digitisation of the PCC shouldn’t be under the AG or Innovation ministry? What website could the Ministry of Information be building to facilitate a PCC? Just asking. Imagine a “fractured BLP” destroyed the DLP.🤣🤣🤣
The fee for a certificate is $20.00 (2 copies).
In the interest of truth.
“Because these 2 arrogant ladies decided – amongst themselves – that these services MUST be digitised ?
Who are the web site developers ?
Minister Moe relatives and those of PS Phillips !
So thousands of Barbadians remain at the MERCY of these 2 CROOKS !”
Definitely 2 dummies, with bigger dummies pretending to be IT specialists, obviously clueless about all things IT.
…. more of the same ripping off of taxpayers while continuing mediocre services.
@ the Honourable Blogmaster
Let me go south to come north
Some readers here think de ole man opposes JUST FOR THE SAKE OF OPPOSING but I want you and them to pause and examine this “opposition” for a while
One sentence.
The Reports of the Auditor General!
Why do I mention his reports in the context of this digitization?
And the obviousness of my response slaps all of us in our faces.
It speaks to the inherent inadequacies of said Office of the Auditor General IN THE FACE OF THIS DIGITISATION
And the noted absence of commentary from the Opposition Party as they have not spoken out about this multimillion Sleight of hand IN THE MAKING
Be it $20 or $100, the fact is that THERE IS NO MECHANISM IN PLACE TO MONITOR OR OFFSET DE ALREADY RAMPANT TEIFING.
But you already know that dont you? De country is jn deep shy$e
http://imgur.com/0fpgKOH
David,
Note: I did not accuse you of being a sell out. I just noted the lack of interesting content.
Enuff,
Never been accused of lacking depth before. I am always probing beneath the surface My interest is our mentality and motivations. Seldom will I discuss treating symptoms and so I do not indulge in prolonged discussions on economics etc when we all know that in doing so we are just tinkering with a model that needs to be discarded.
What you call depth is just tinkering. Just extending the life of a sick engine for a few years. If we don’t change the engine we will be right back where we started in no time.
Our problems are mostly in our minds.
For instance Enuff, my grandmother always used to say that life is a struggle and a puzzle. Our recent attitude has been that we have “arrived” and no longer should have to struggle or solve puzzles. I have come to the realization that if we don’t keep an edge whatever we have gained will soon be lost. The struggle is never over and there is always a new puzzle. Like housework. life’s problems are never finished. Just as we roll up our sleeves, do our housework daily and understand that that’s just the way it is, we have also to understand that the whole of life is a daily challenge and we need to stop moaning and groaning and see it normal. Just as we are not surprised and disappointed that the furniture we dusted yesterday is again in need of a dusting, we should not be surprised or disappointed that our leaders, our countrymen and even ourselves need constant attention and vigilance and work to make our country livable. It is the human condition. We are flawed beings.
And so we should not be surprised or disappointed when human beings are greedy, cruel, lying, cheating, thieving etc. We should not be disenchanted and disillusioned when we don’t get what we think we deserve. We should recognize that we don’t deserve anything unless we fight for it. DAILY.
We need to change our perspective on life. It is a battle not a party.
Donna
Who says I meant you, I don’t know you to be of the conspiracy ilk.
EnuffSeptember 14, 2019 7:05 PM
Stupse people with as much depth as a teaspoon complaning about the meatyness of topics and of course in doing so must start some conspiracy. 🤣🤣
Enuff,
I thought perhaps you were attempting to kill two birds with one stone. The tin foil man and me. You did say “PEOPLE”. And after all, I was the one who used the phrase “not much to sink your teeth into” in other words no MEAT.
No matter. Let us move on!
By the way, there is such a thing as a conspiracy. I just don’t see them around every corner.
Would this same situation and excuse be allowed to fly in the case of the VAT office, Land Tax office, BRA, air and seaport departments?
“Sorry folks, we will not be accepting any more VAT, income tax, land tax, payments or allowing visitor entry into the island as there are some glitches in our new computer system. Matter of fact, we are closing the departments until these challenges are resolved. Have faith though, we are working diligently to have these situations resolved as soon as possible.”
How ah sound? Like ah idiot, right?
FearPlay
Your comment puts a lid on it.
Um is more serious than wunnah think,the vaunted ASYCUDA is DOA and the Gov’t has been unable to revert to the previous system because it rendered it inoperable as the new system was being implemented. It implemented a system without as much as a “field” test. I understand Mia read the riot act but what is she going to do fire the new Comptroller? The shit is fast approaching the fan so be warned.
Len me hear from the bionic man
@Sargeant
Why would the responsibility rest with the Comptroller? This is an IT matter where standard protocol calls for a rollback plan if the upgrade failed. This is 101 stuff.
@ David
Somebody gotta be the fall guy, where does the buck stop? Some IT minion that no one knows? Will it be the Minister? Well that last one won’t happen.
Just suck it up buttercup
Wow…shit is flying everywhere.
@DonnaSeptember 15, 2019 9:00 AM “We need to change our perspective on life. It is a battle not a party.”
So true.
When I am doing my gardening, especially this September month. I remember
By the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return…in pain you shall bring forth children.
Nobody has yet abolished the weeds or the labour pains, 24 hours and 17 minutes, as I remember. Decades later I still remember.
Life is indeed a battle, and not for the swift but for she who endures to the end.
Keep up the fight.
@FearPlaySeptember 15, 2019 10:51 AM “working diligently to have these situations resolved.”
Nobody says resolved anymore. It is always rectified.
I suppose that rectified sounds posher?
Lolll!!!
@VC
“This is especially so when the package is purchased off the shelf ,adapted to local use”
True. However, the Canadian Federal government spent billions on a new payroll system. Aptly, instead of calling it by one of their famous acronyms, they settled on Phoenix. It underpays, overpays, doesn’t pay at all, and in about 50% of the cases pays accurately. Unfortunately, it is yet to reincarnate itself and rise from the ashes. We are told that will cost another many billion whenever it does. We have an election in a few weeks, and not a single politician has yet to touch this topic. There is something about public money and software execution, which do not seem to work well together.
@NorthernObserver
Thanks for this NO. There is a difference between incompetence and corruption.
“for 13 days we cannot export a single container of rum and we actually have 38 containers at the port waiting to be loaded on the ship”
https://barbadostoday.bb/2019/09/13/stalled-6/
So what if Customs take another 2 weeks or more to get the system up and running ?
The Customs Department stands ready to assist any of its stakeholders who are experiencing challenges with the recently implemented ASYCUDA World system.
This assurance came from Minister in the Ministry of Finance, Ryan Straughn, who said the department was working to address some post implementation technical issue.
https://barbadostoday.bb/2019/09/14/customs-department-ready-to-assist/
“There is something about public money and software execution, which do not seem to work well together.”
Lol..in Barbados’ case they spent decades chasing away their best and brightest minds , particularly their scholars, in a bid to please and appease nasty minority interests, now they are STUCK WITH PRETEND IT SPECIALISTS……….truly KARMIC..
….not a fella is shedding a tear for any of them…other countries that are smarter continue to reap the benefits of those world class talents.
The stones you reject………….
Dah is wuh happens when BACKWARD governments remain eager:
To maintain a slave society;
To maintain a yardfowl society;
To line their own pockets, at the expense of the people;
And to date, they have LEARNED NOTHING, cause they are still bending over backwards to continue SAME.
@David
There is a difference but both are equally unacceptable, would you fire a corrupt employee but keep an incompetent one?
@Sargeant
If if it is any consolation we heard an empty statement from the PR of Police this morning, hopefully it will be similar for Customs. We need to improve efficiency if the government is to grind out some credibility.
@David September 15, 2019 6:48 PM
“@Sargeant: Why would the responsibility rest with the Comptroller? This is an IT matter where standard protocol calls for a rollback plan if the upgrade failed. This is 101 stuff.”
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
That comment should be directed to the many IT consultants, specialists and czars ‘populating’ the expensively expansive Cabinet serving the present government.
Isn’t there a senator who was ‘headhunted out of Canada (and the Constitution swiftly amended) to be the chief spokesperson on all matters IT?
What about the ‘Babbling theoretical’ consultant who was appointed Czar on all things “IT”?
This country lacks nothing in IT expertise; just the need to put the right people in the round holes instead of the current square pegs in triangles of massive incompetence.
Why can’t the jack-of-all-trades’ Guru Avinash be thrown into the melee to sort things out as he did with the Four Seasons failure and is about to do with the pending White Oak disaster?
It’s something in the corrupt, brutal minds of black leaders that is causing this societal neglect, corruption and human rights violations…against their own people in the Caribbean, it has to be destroyed if the majority populations are to move forward without being targeted for human rights violations, most often by their own governments whom they elect and pay a salary. I have not even heard of this database before, but now everyone knows.
“By Stabroek News September 16, 2019
(Jamaica Gleaner) Jamaica has recorded the most incidents of human rights violation when compared to its Caribbean neighbours.
According to the regional civil society-led human rights reporting mechanism, the Shared Incident Database (SID), of the 1,413 reports received for the period August 2013 to 2018, Jamaica had a total of 505 incidents, most of which were violence against males.
Guyana had the second highest recorded incidents, at 404, followed by Suriname, with 315.
The SID data showed that in Jamaica, 52.1 per cent of the incidents were reported by males. They accounted for approximately one and a half times the proportion of cases, compared to females at 33.5 per cent.
Transwomen also reported nine times the number of cases as transmen. There was one case where the person did not disclose their gender.
“The idea behind the shared incident database came about to develop some sort of mechanism through which you could have the systematic documentation of rights violation by people who were living with HIV and other key affected populations,” said Ivan Cruickshank, executive director at The Caribbean Vulnerable Communities Coalition (CVC), whose organisation spearheaded and piloted SID.
“After looking at how members of the key population groups in particular were responding to issues around rights violations, we realised that there was no systematic documentation of the incidents that were occurring.
He added, “You would hear stories but they were usually anecdotal stories. We couldn’t find anywhere that you could go to look and identify what was happening, where it was happening, who it was happening to and the magnitude of the problem.”
Details kept private
The database was established in 2016 and rolled out initially in Jamaica before launching in the wider Caribbean in 2017.
“Anybody who is affected by human rights can report into the database. We work with organisations who are working in the area of human rights, as well as issues around HIV. Those organisations can then make the system accessible to persons who they have to engage with on a day-to-day basis,” said Cruickshank.
Of note is that the details of who is reporting the incident is kept confidential.”
Thanks.
I sincerely hope DM delivers as outlined above. He must.
And if he delivers, then other Ministers who are encountering unexpected delays should ask DM how he pulled it off. I believe he has a recipe ….. Share it.