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<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black'"><span style="font-size: 14pt"><span style="color: #000066">Walker wants to change perception of Customs Department</span></span>
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Tuesday, June 03, 2008
ON his first day as Commissioner of Customs Danville Walker yesterday compared the scale of the task before him as equal to that of director of elections, a position he held for 11 years overseeing reform of the Jamaican electoral system before being forced to resign last month following revelations that he held United States citizenship.
Walker was offered the new job by Finance Minister Audley Shaw last week following the retirement of Hector Jones, who had served the Customs Department for 39 years. The new commissioner spent his first day touring customs facilities and meeting with staff, a process that he said would continue throughout his first week.
"There are definitely similarities with the electoral system where there is a tremendous negative perception among the public," Walker told the Observer. "But I'm new here and I don't know that from truth or perception, but it is something that we are going to have to work hard to change, both through facts and perception."
He was keen to express confidence in his new staff, albeit with an early warning, echoing Shaw's previous announcement that the Government will amend legislation to impose harsher penalties on corrupt customs officials.
"I'm sure that the majority of people here are hard-working and want to serve their country and do their jobs. My role here is to champion them and anyone who doesn't fit that role I will separate them from here, that's for sure," said Walker.
He expressed enthusiasm for the job and said that he would work with staff to establish a plan of action.
"We have to work hard in doing that in as short a space of time as possible," he said. "We have a revenue target of $90 billion and we can't expect [change] to happen just because we wish it."
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Tuesday, June 03, 2008
ON his first day as Commissioner of Customs Danville Walker yesterday compared the scale of the task before him as equal to that of director of elections, a position he held for 11 years overseeing reform of the Jamaican electoral system before being forced to resign last month following revelations that he held United States citizenship.
Walker was offered the new job by Finance Minister Audley Shaw last week following the retirement of Hector Jones, who had served the Customs Department for 39 years. The new commissioner spent his first day touring customs facilities and meeting with staff, a process that he said would continue throughout his first week.
"There are definitely similarities with the electoral system where there is a tremendous negative perception among the public," Walker told the Observer. "But I'm new here and I don't know that from truth or perception, but it is something that we are going to have to work hard to change, both through facts and perception."
He was keen to express confidence in his new staff, albeit with an early warning, echoing Shaw's previous announcement that the Government will amend legislation to impose harsher penalties on corrupt customs officials.
"I'm sure that the majority of people here are hard-working and want to serve their country and do their jobs. My role here is to champion them and anyone who doesn't fit that role I will separate them from here, that's for sure," said Walker.
He expressed enthusiasm for the job and said that he would work with staff to establish a plan of action.
"We have to work hard in doing that in as short a space of time as possible," he said. "We have a revenue target of $90 billion and we can't expect [change] to happen just because we wish it."
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