THE JAMAICA Customs Department is struggling with significant delays in the processing of travellers and their imports, just weeks after laying off or transferring more than 100 of its more seasoned workers as part of a modernisation programme.
These workers reportedly failed to meet the required standards, under the new recruitment exercise currently being administered under the Public Sector Modernisation Programme (PSMP).
Hendricks Porter, President of the Custom Brokers Association of Jamaica (CBAJ), told The Gleaner yesterday that members of his Association have been coming under pressure from importers, who are being forced to wait significantly longer periods before their goods are processed at the Customs House in Kingston.
"What we should be getting back in 24 hours, we are now getting back in four days and in many cases it takes longer than a week," he added.
He said there were not enough invoice inspectors and supervisors to deal with the workload in the Customs Department. The workers currently on duty, he said, have been doing their best. However, a serious backlog remains, as the workers are still operating under the old system and not the promised computer-aided processing heralded by the Department in previous weeks.
Meanwhile the mood among many of the customs staff who were laid off under the modernisation programme is sour. Several of them have reported that the circumstances under which they were sent home remain questionable. They are questioning whether they in fact failed the competency tests administered under the modernisation programme.
One customs officer who was appointed in 1975 and wished to remain unidentified, said he was laid off on June 3.
He explained to The Gleaner that the workers were not given any "integrity test" or "battery" of tests as reported yesterday, but only did interviews, a written test of Math and English and for more senior positions had to do a psychometric assessment to determine their character profile.
"Based on the people that were laid off it would appear that the persons who are being replaced had nothing to do with the tests, but those persons who did not find favour with the Commissioner of Customs," he said.
Several messages were left at the Commissioner of Customs' office for comment yesterday, however she was either out of office or in meetings on all occasions.
