Major General (ret’d) Atherly to take over as CANU Head proceeds on leave 

Georgetown, Guyana – (March 1, 2017) Minister of State, Mr. Joseph Harmon, this morning said that in line with Government’s policy to ensure that officers do not accumulate annual leave and in turn request pay in lieu of such, Mr. James Singh, Head of the Customs Anti Narcotics Unit (CANU), has been asked to proceed on leave effective today.

“This is the practice that we have embraced since we came into office and, therefore, Mr. Singh, who had some leave accumulated, has been asked to go on leave with effect from today and Major General Michael Atherly will be heading CANU. This has been communicated to the Minister of Public Security, who is the person responsible for CANU, but public officers have always been encouraged to take their leave and we want to discourage this practice of accumulating large amounts of leave and then asking for payment in lieu. So we are trying to ensure that all public officers get their leave during that year,” Minister Harmon said.

Major General (ret’d) Atherly was responsible for leading the review of the National Drug Strategy Master Plan 2014-2018.  This review led to the development of the National Drug Strategy Master Plan 2016-2020, which was launched last December.