Latest update April 23rd, 2024 12:59 AM
Jan 08, 2015 News
The Ministry of Home Affairs has given a senior official the boot.
The Ministry apparently got fed up with the numerous complaints from various foreign nationals seeking work permits and stay extensions and decided to fire the retired Assistant Police Commissioner who was at the time heading the immigration unit of the Home Affairs Ministry.
The former police officer, Krishna Lakraj, is believed to have retired from the police force over three years ago, but was retained to head the Ministry’s immigration unit.
The retiree served in that capacity for about two years until he was handed his dismissal letter just as the year was about to end.
Additionally, Lakraj has been ordered to remove from the police accommodations at the Leonora Police Station where he resided, even after completing his service to the local security force years ago.
Lakraj is expected to be replaced by another retiree, Assistant Commissioner of Police Carol Primo.
At the time of her retirement, Primo was the Head of the Immigration Department. With a clean and respectable record, she is expected to be an exceptional replacement.
Fingers were said to have been pointed to the Ministry’s immigration unit for slothfulness, and the alleged employment of unorthodox methods by which foreign nationals seeking to stay and work in Guyana, could get their legally required documents.
On several occasions, representatives for Brazilian miners operating here had accused the government of delaying the issuance of work permits. Especially when the gold industry is booming, many foreign nationals from neighbouring countries in particular, come over to Guyana to get a share of the mineral.
They also have to seek legal permission to operate here. On many occasions they had claimed having to pay large sums to obtain stay extensions and work permits. At one point, it was alleged that persons seeking permits were forced to pay as much as $200,000 (US$1,000) for their documentation.
The “middlemen or agents”, as they are called, were alleged to have been acting in complicity with Government officials, reportedly from the Ministry of Home Affairs and other state agencies.
Secretary of the Brazilian Mining and General Association, Antonio Szala, had expressed anger earlier this year as a result of over 140 permits being outstanding. He claimed that the Brazilian miners were being “exploited”.
Some other foreign nationals such as Chinese and Indians are said to have had similar experiences.
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