NAME OF FEATURE | THE GLEANER | SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2025 47 INTERNATIONAL CUSTOMS DAY/CUSTOMS WEEK FEATURE Customs News in Review THE JAMAICA Customs Agency successfully executed the fourth staging of the Annual Anti-corruption Panel Discussion under the theme Ethical Leadership: The Impact on Cross Border Trade, Supply Chain and Trade Facilitation. The event held on August 29, 2024 at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel, commenced with CEO/ Commissioner of Customs, Velma Ricketts Walker, giving her opening remarks on how the Jamaica Customs Agency continues to implement practical solutions to prevent and combat corruption. Being proactive as an Agency and supported by the WCO’s Revised Arusha Declaration, the JCA implemented the following to prevent and combat corruption, “improvements in our regulatory framework, seen with the introduction of the new Customs Act that is before parliament; the reform of our human resource management machinery evidenced by an even more transparent recruitment process; the digitalisation or automation of several trade and Customs-related procedures and processes driven by our core Customs Management System, ASYCUDA, as well as the ongoing implementation of JSWIFT, the online electronic single window, which positively impacts the trade and other Border Regulatory Agencies,” shared Commissioner Ricketts Walker. She further added that the high importance of integrity to the agency has birthed numerous measures that were implemented to ensure it is maintained across the agency and by its stakeholders. “The agency has strategically sought to institutionalise how we operate, through the establishment of an Internal Affairs Division, and further build-out of this division with the introduction of an Anticorruption and Integrity Section … Additionally, through our partnership with the World Customs Organisation (WCO), under the Anti-corruption and Integrity Promotion (A-CIP) Programme, we are enhancing our efforts to ensure a robust and transparent Customs environment. Under A-CIP, the Customs Integrity Perception Survey (CIPS) was a critical component which was initiated as part of this commitment, aiming to capture the perceptions of private sector stakeholders about Customs practices.” Milton Samuda, guest speaker at the event and Managing Partner at Samuda & Johnson Attorneys At Law, shared the best practices to encourage transparency and accountability for self and others, the challenges that may hinder ethical behaviour and concluded with tips to encourage ethical behaviour and leadership. “Ethical leadership must be resolute. Ethical leadership must form like-minded alliances. Ethical leadership must make sure that itself and its functionaries are trained and resourced. Ethical leadership must create lasting institutional structures. Ethical leadership must advocate. Ethical leadership must not quit,” he firmly expressed. Sharing a powerful statement that resonated with panelists and attendees alike, Mr. Samuda stated that he believes an increased focus in enforcement and less hindrance of business to allow law abiding citizens the ease of operating and doing business locally while repurposing the resources to properly handle breakers of the law, will be most fruitful in increasing ethical behaviour. The excellent line-up of panelists included guest speaker Milton Samuda; Metry Seaga, President, PSOJ; Sydney Thwaites, President, JMEA; William Mahfood, Chairman, WISYNCO Group; Kelly Greenaway, Senior Vice President, Legal Services, PAJ; Lieutenant Colonel Richard DaCosta, Senior Director of Intelligence, MOCA; Marlon Lowe, Deputy CEO, Border Protection; and Shandilayne Davis, Senior Director, International and Industry Liaison both of the JCA. INTEGRITY… GOOD LEADERSHIP… TRANSPARENCY… PARTNERSHIP… ACCOUNTABILITY… IDEAL FOR IMPROVED TRADE AND REDUCED CORRUPTION WORLDWIDE Some of the attendees at the fourth staging of the JCA’s Annual Anti-corruption Panel Discussion. Members of the panel at the fourth staging of the JCA’s Annual Anti-corruption Panel Discussion.
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