The Tribune

By JADE RUSSELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

jrussell@tribunemedia.net

CUSTOMS officers who say they have lost their drive after years of being passed over for promotion demonstrated outside the Bahamas Customs Department yesterday, accusing management of bringing back retired officers to fill the senior posts they have spent their careers working towards.

The officers called for government intervention. Their union has identified 15 retired officers who have returned to the department, 13 of whom are still working, in posts including deputy comptroller, assistant comptroller and superintendent.

Superintendent Livingstone Ferguson, a 38-year veteran of the department, said officers felt management did not consider them worthy of advancement despite their qualifications and years of service.

“We are somewhat disappointed in management that they thought that we are not worthy to advance within the organisation,” he said. “That we should remain stagnant in the position that we’re in, but we’re here today to say that enough is enough.”

Mr Ferguson holds an associate degree in public administration and bachelor’s and master’s degrees in finance, and expects to complete his law degree at the University of The Bahamas next year.

“We are qualified, and not only myself,” he said. “I have people behind me with master’s degree, with bachelor’s degree.”

Kevin McKenzie, a chief customs revenue officer who has served almost ten years, accused Comptroller of Customs Ralph Munroe of failing to put a succession plan in place. He claimed some retired officers would leave their posts only through death.

Mr McKenzie said he had received two supersession letters from Mr Munroe telling him junior officers would be promoted ahead of him. He said Mr Munroe never explained why, even after he wrote formally asking for a reason.

“The process is they supposed to tell you why you’re being superseded,” he said.

Winifred Lynden, a customs officer of 20 years, said she too had recently been superseded. She said some of the serving officers being overlooked were more qualified than the retirees being brought back, and that retired officers should not be placed in authority over experienced serving staff.

She also claimed several assistant comptrollers had been stripped of their powers, duties and responsibilities to make room for officers returning on contract. Officers who had waited years for leadership roles, she said, were now being asked to step aside.

Chief Customs Officer Alma Poitier-Sands, who has served more than 30 years, said every officer deserved a chance to advance. She said some of the re-engaged officers had already spent years in the department before retiring, and that she and her colleagues had grown increasingly frustrated.

Mr Ferguson said officers did not object to retired colleagues returning to help the department, but did object to them occupying posts that qualified serving staff could fill. He said keeping retirees in senior roles had created a bottleneck at every level. If 12 assistant comptroller posts remain filled, for example, 12 superintendents cannot move up, and the officers below them cannot move up either.

He said officers had hoped management would deal with their concerns without a demonstration. They were not seeking special treatment, he said, only the chance to show they could lead the department.

Deron Brooks, president of the Bahamas Customs, Immigration and Allied Workers Union, said the union had previously urged the comptroller to increase the number of promotions, arguing they were out of proportion to the department’s size. He said some promotions had since been issued, but they remained inadequate and were coming too slowly.

The dispute is not new. In 2024, Mr Brooks warned the union might take legal action over the government’s contractual rehiring of retired public servants. He pointed to a 2021 Supreme Court ruling, won by the union, which found the government had unlawfully appointed Immigration officers on contract. Mr Munroe defended the practice that year, saying rehired officers benefited the department with their knowledge and experience.

Bahamas Trades Union Congress president Obie Ferguson backed the officers. He warned that public servants should not be passed over for advancement in favour of people appointed for political reasons.

Obie Ferguson said procedures governing public service appointments and promotions must be followed, noting that the Court of Appeal had ruled they must be applied in accordance with the law.

“There is no opinion that supersedes the law, and it must be followed exactly as it is written,” he said.

He said Customs and Immigration officers had constitutional, contractual and industrial agreement rights that must be respected. He pointed to court decisions involving public servants in Jamaica, Barbados and St Lucia and said Bahamian officers deserve the same protection. He urged the officers to seek support from the wider trade union movement, saying the issue could affect public sector workers in other departments.