Corruption Survey on Several Government Departments

Rolando Zetina

Now to the survey…among those departments studied were the immigration department, the vital statistics unit and the lands department, notoriously referred to as a “hot bed of corruption” by former Prime Minister Dean Barrow. C.E.O. Rolando Zetina shares some of the findings of the survey.

Rolando Zetina, C.E.O., Ministry of Public Service

“Recently we did a survey on three ministries, our ministry and the Ministry of Natural Resources, immigration and the Department of Vital Statistics where we get the most complaints from the public. We got the results. We are currently working with our Customer Service Department in the ministry to see how we can confront the many complaints that the public has. We are at the point where a proposal has been submitted, but you know everything takes money. We are trying to include it in our budget for next year, so hopefully by next year we start with the implementation first of a contact center. A contact center where people will be able to call and get the information they need without having to call each and every ministry.”

Duane Moody

“Can you speak to some of the findings from that survey?”

Rolando Zetina

“Well, one of them was basically that sometimes, you go into an office and people don’t just give you the attention that you want. People are rude, it takes too long to get things done; things of that nature. I don’t have the report in front of me so I cannot be as detailed as I would like to be, but yes that came up in many instances in a couple of the ministries where people said well to get something I have to pay. But then again, that’s why I said, eliminating corruption has to do with all of us. If any public officers as you for a bribe, instead of giving the bribe, report it, make a complaint, put it in writing and then we will address it. Without anything in writing we cannot address it; it is just “yerisoh.”