Agortime-Kpetoe, Sept. 16, GNA- Major General Richardson E. Baiden, Commissioner of the Customs Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS), has urged personnel of the Service to ensure that their operations at the various borders did not destroy the spirit of cooperation between the Service and other agencies.

"As revenue and security officers you are reminded to constantly keep in mind the cross-sectoral nature of our operations and avoid unnecessary conflicts with other revenue and security agencies," he stated.

Major-Richardson was addressing a passing-out parade of 62 junior officers of the Service after a nine-week basic para-military training at the CEPS Academy at Agortime-Kpetoe in the Adaklu-Anyigbe District of the Volta Region.

He said the atmosphere of mutual mistrust could result in "low productivity, mutual suspicion, senseless accusations and the risk was that national security could be compromised". "CEPS is not an island. On a daily basis we deal with a number of key players both in the public and private sector," the Commissioner stated.

The trainees, including, 13 females covered topics in staff discipline, communication procedures, customs regimes, public relations, foot drill, weapon handling and first aid among others. Major-General Baiden said it was important that personnel of the Service were abreast with government policies, legislations and enforcement that defined the operational strategies of the Service. He assured of an enabling environment that promoted continuous learning and positive thinking especially among frontline officers.

Major-General Baiden urged instructors at CEPS' training institutions to be more systematic and focused in the design and implementation of all training packages to meet the strategic long-term organizational goals of the Service.

He said management of CEPS would continuously re-evaluate the content and quality of its training programmes to ensure that the Service was not overtaken by events.

Major-General Baiden tasked the Commandant of the Academy to "determine the type of skills officers needed in order to carry out assigned tasks and build their confidence on the job". "We need to train our officers to develop a more systematic and transparent way of serving the public. If we fail to meet these expectations in our training programmes, then we are creating a situation that will undermine our corporate vision," he added. The training was designed in line with the staff rationalisation policy of CEPS to raise the proficiency of junior officers who had had no form of training to assist in the collection, accounting and protection of revenue.

Mr Sampson Yamoah won the award for the Best All Round Trainee, Miss Christine Buabeng, Best Female Trainee and Miss Caroline Hanson was the best in the academic subjects.