GEORGE TOWN: Government interviewed four local people for the post of collector of customs this week in what the financial secretary said was the sixth recruitment effort by the ministry to fill the critical post. The top job in a department that generates one of the main sources of revenue for government has been vacant for over three years, since Carlon Powery retired, but officials say a decision will be made before the end of this month. In this latest attempt to find a collector the 18 applicants were shortlisted to four Caymanians.
Financial Secretary Kenneth Jefferson told Finance Committee Thursday that one of those local candidate is an existing customs officer and another is a former employee of the department, while the other two are former civil servants who are now in the private sector. With interviews being held on Tuesday of this week, Jefferson said the ministry would be moving swiftly to make a decision before the end of this month.
The issue of succession planning in the civil service and the numerous vacant top positions, as well as the problems with suspended staff, especially in the uniformed services, for one reason or another, are creating problems for government stability and has featured heavily during the scrutiny of the budget this year.
The collector of customs, the fire chief, the chief officer in the education ministry, the director of the labour department, the superintendent of pensions and the port director are some of the key posts in government that are vacant, while the chief immigration officer remains on required leave, as do two members of the management team at the prison.
Currently acting as the collector of customs, Marlon Bodden, whose substantive post is to head up the enforcement arm of customs, also told members about the scrutiny and enforcement measures being undertaken. He explained how container scanning is used not only to detect smuggled contraband such as guns and drugs but that the officers can see where shipments don’t physically match the paperwork, improving fraud detection.
