Immigration Officers are upset, yet again, as they accuse their Chief of singlehandedly suspending all acting appointments

Officers from the Department of Immigration are aggrieved, once again, as, reportedly, all “acting” appointments have been rescinded.

Immigration sources are alleging that the Chief Immigration Officer has “singlehandedly” suspended all these positions, and this has significantly affected some employees.

The sources tell REAL News that there are officers who have been acting for as many as two and three years now. The change means that their pay has been reduced and they have reverted to their original positions or rank.

One affected employee claims the Chief “is making havoc of the job and the Department. It’s clear that she doesn’t know what she is doing … .” 

In this regard, the staff member points to the Labour Code for support. “It clearly states that a person should act for 90 days and, in the second instance, 90 days. After that, a person should be confirmed, or be promoted, or revert to their original position,” the officer tells our News Room.

“But, instead, the [Chief] has decided that she is going suspend all the acting positions – from Acting Junior Supervisor to Acting Senior Supervisor and Acting Officer in Charge. She is making a mess and a mockery of the Department!” the staff member declares.

The employees are also claiming that, because of political connections, the authorities “are not going to do anything about it.” However, they are still making the call to Prime Minister Gaston Browne to remove the Chief, “because she is not fit to be there.”

They claim that, out of sheer frustration, some of the senior officers are opting to take vacation at this time.

This latest incident follows grievances about the Immigration Chief’s lack of fairness in applying discipline – particularly in the wake of two high-profile instances in which several Indians and Haitians went missing earlier this year. In the latter case, the detainees actually broke out of the Department’s Detention Centre in Coolidge.

The Department of Immigration has become a very unhappy place in which to work, the sources say. Veteran officers report that morale is low and absences are at a record high, while Minister of Immigration Paul Chet Greene is sitting on his hands.