And while the BPO is hiring, so is the Lands Department. It's part of a new government strategy to bypass the endemic corruption with new staff and new systems.Now, it's not like they can fire anyone we all know that in the public service that's nearly impossible but the strategy is to implement systems that will enforce new levels of transparency and accountability.

Cabinet adopted the recommendations at its last meeting and the PM outlined them today. He was backed up by the CEO in the Ministry whop came up with them along with the Commissioner of Lands

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister of Belize

"We will provide for the first time at last for effective service delivery. It's going to cost government, we're going to hire additional personnel, all who will have to be on contract because we don't want people getting permanent appointments joining the public service and then we run into the same problem where no matter what happens you can't get rid of them. The new hires will all be on contract with exit clauses.

Sharon Ramclam, CEO Ministry of Natural Resources

"It is clear that the public has been consistent in expressing their frustrations in the level and quality of delivery of service offered at the lands department and this has now come to the fore where the department finds itself having to out many fires over the past weeks and in fact months. In our view the two critical areas at this point for us to tackle are the sections that deal with the national estate and the registry section. Those are the areas that offer day to day service to the public and ought to be offering day to day service to the public in a more efficient manner but at this point we need to address of customer service the critical areas of public relations the security of file sand land tenure and obviously the complaints of wrong doings and misconduct by the lands officers. We also have been faced with issues of theft and I say outright its theft in terms of things happening in the department and we see that we defiantly need to put more surveillance systems in monitoring the movement of staff throughout the department and especially at the district level where they seem to be operating in silos and not connected to the headquarters in Belmopan. We are pleased to announce that we will be installing security cameras in all the publicly accessed pieces in the department at the district level and in Belmopan and also in the areas where the cashier booths are located. We also are putting in place a proper tracking system for visitors. Everybody to visits any of the lands department throughout the country will receive a specific receipt, like a ticket, saying you visited, this is your complaint, this is your query, this is the officer who addressed you, and this is what happened."

Because the Prime Minister seems to have such a short and frustrated fuse with the Lands Department, at the end of 6 months, Ramclam will have to report back to Cabinet one what measurable progress has been made in curbing corruption and increasing efficiency.