BY DESTINY JOHNSON
Journal Staff Writer

Fifty-five new recruits from New Providence and 29 recruits from Grand Bahama
have been inducted into The Bahamas Customs and Excise Department.
This past Monday, the recruits were officially named in a ceremony at Bahamas
Customs head office.
They have now begun a six-month long training to prepare them for placement.
Financial Secretary in the Ministry of Finance Simon Wilson was the keynote speaker
at the event and encouraged recruits to maintain integrity despite there being some
bad apples in the department.
“The only way you can function in this job is if you have a moral compass and you
have a strong sense of your own personal integrity. Yes, from day one, you will see
officers who don’t demonstrate that,” Mr. Wilson said.
“You know, I make no excuse for that. That is the reality that we face. You’ll always
find bad apples in any scenario. And it may look like the easier path, but believe me,
there is no success along that path.
“It is very, very important as you embark upon this career, and it could be a 30-year
career, it could be a five-year career, you do it with a sense of integrity, personal
integrity.”
Mr. Wilson also acknowledged the lack of males in the cohort and in the department
as a whole. He revealed that there are plans to restructure the requirement process to
encourage more men to join the ranks.
“We want, to [make] a concerted effort to get more males to be interested in the
Customs Department,” he told reporters.
“Obviously, we want a gender balance. It’s very important for the department to
function properly.
“Obviously, a part of the plan is to look at our requirements for entry and also find
ways, to bring officers in and move them up to a certain standard.

“The academic requirements of the department are high and so it requires some
work.”
The next customs cohort is expected to begin sometime early next year.