Twenty Junior Officers graduate Customs Basic Training Course
By Ryan Haas
Reporter-SKNVibes.com
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| Permanent Secretary of the Caribbean Customs Law Enforcement Council, Claude Paul |
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts-THE fifth graduation ceremony for the St. Kitts and Nevis Customs &Excise Department’s Junior Officers Basic Training Course was a landmark occasion with international students receiving certification alongside Junior Officers of the Federation.
Two individuals from Montserrat were the first international students to complete the Customs Junior Officer program in St. Kitts and Nevis.
Three students from Nevis and fifteen from St. Kitts also received basic certification in a ceremony held on March 7th that was attended by several notable individuals, including Deputy Prime Minister, Hon. Sam Condor.
The eight-week course, which is mostly funded by the Caribbean Customs Law Enforcement Council (CCLEC), was last held in 2003 and has proven to be “very successful” according to the Comptroller of Customs, Norman Williams.
“We added an extra week to this year’s program so students could learn conversational Spanish. The funding was provided by the government of Cuba and we think this will help our officers work better in the expanding global market,” said Williams.
Permanent Secretary in the CCLEC, Claude Paul, said that instruction like the Junior Officers Basic Training Course “will be the most important thing that CCLEC can provide to the region.”
In his keynote address to the graduating class, Condor stressed the importance of a positive attitude in jobs of public service like Customs Officers.
“It is not just knowledge that is important, but how we interact.
People’s property is sacred and their rights must not be violated by those in power,” the government official said. “We must always be positive and hold ourselves to a higher standard.”
~~Adz:Left~~ All graduates of the program are now qualified to begin work as Customs Officers or proceed on to further specialized training. Kaymoye David of Nevis took high honors as valedictorian of the twenty person class.
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Deputy Prime Minister, Hon. Sam Condor
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