Dear Editor,
I read in the newspapers with a great deal of interest that Guyanese applying for a passport for the first time must produce a birth certificate not more than six months old at the time of application.
As an ordained minister of religion, legal marriage officer and a signatory on passport forms I believe this new regulation is completely wrong.
While I can comprehend that the Minister of Home Affairs is trying to stamp out corruption pertaining to illegal birth certificates, marriage certificates etc, this new regulation doesn’t convince me that irregularities in relation to forged birth certificates will come to an end.
The Minister did not say if married women applying for a passport for the first time must have a new marriage certificate, and the husband a new birth certificate, since they are required to produce those documents with their birth certificates for a new passport. This new regulation did not say if widows must have a new death certificate and divorced women must produce a new updated absolute, or those with a name change by deed poll an updated deed poll. This regulation did not say if children whose parents will apply for passports for them must also have a new birth certificate not more than six months old.
In my opinion, a legal birth certificate, marriage certificate, and death certificate don’t have an expiry date on them, so how can this new birth certificate law inform the immigration officer whe-ther it’s an original or a forged birth certificate? I believe if the birth certificate is very old and the writing is not legible then the applicant must produce a new birth certificate. To apply for a birth certificate now will take two months or more – even a year.
A late registration takes six months. One cannot fill out an application form and go upstairs at the GPOC and pay $600 for 2 birth certificates and get them instantly unless bribes are given, so this new law may appear to be good but stricter rules must be introduced for the Registrar General to facilitate birth certificates instantly.
Here is an example of a man who spent $20,000 to travel with his wife to Immigration from Crabwood Creek. He arrives at 7am, and after waiting half the day was told he needs new birth certificates. He now takes a taxi for a $1000 to the GPOC to be told to submit an application and his birth certificates would be posted in 2 months. He has no other alternative but to pay a bribe to get his birth certificates. The stricter the laws the greater the corruption.
My next question, Editor, is why is it that the entire nation has to travel to Georgetown to obtain a very inferior quality machine readable passport? After 7 years why is it this government cannot decentralize this passport office. In Berbice it used to be in New Amsterdam and Skeldon. What they need to do is set up passport offices in the different regions so our citizens can have easy access to apply for their passports without paying thousands to travel to Georgetown to be sent home empty handed. Their applications will be made in their regions and their passports will be processed in Georgetown using the same old system we had many years ago.
After 48 years of Independence obtaining a simple birth certificate has become a great problem. All the applications are done at the General Register Office, then they go through old dead, worn-out books searching for applicants’ names. This again must be decentralized to the various regions to ease the paperwork pressure. In this age of computers and the internet passport applications should be done online; after payment a receipt should be given to the applicant to be taken to their nearest birth certificate office to obtain their birth certificate. What’s the big deal to computerize this nation’s births with less than a million people?
My next point: if these new regulations are implemented, then they should be stated on the passport form and posted all over the media as well as being pasted up at schools, libraries, hospitals, etc, to sensitize the Guyanese public.
I have kept birth certificates for myself and family for many years in brand new condition. Why is it I have to get a new birth certificate for my child to get a simple passport? Then the other problem at the General Register Office is that the folks working there are always spelling people’s names incorrectly, and in some cases give them completely different names.
I applied for a birth certificate 3 times for an old lady at my church. The register office claimed the lady was never registered. I took the lady to them, and the lady showed them her ID card stating that she had an old red birth certificate which was damaged. They found her name and mailed me the birth certificate one month later. To my amazement, they gave the lady a completely new first name. My last name on the envelope was given as ‘Leal’’ instead of ‘Cecil.’ I am thoroughly convinced we are governed by modern illiterates.
This whole issue of a 6-months-old birth certificate being required for a first applicant’s passport should be reviewed. Our present administration makes and breaks many laws that they themselves cannot uphold. How many of our ministers in government will wait two months for a birth certificate to get them a new passport? If my parent dies in the USA and I don’t have a passport it means I can’t travel unless I have a new birth certificate. Can our erudite Minister of Legal Affairs tell me why this entire nation has to travel to Georgetown for a passport and birth certificate?
How do we compare ourselves with our Caribbean neighbours? Who will compensate people travelling from Essequibo, Berbice, Linden, Lethem, etc, when they are turned down for their passport? They should file a lawsuit to be compensated for their expenses.
I am thoroughly convinced that we are a nation behind human civilization when I compare our nation with countries I have been to.
Yours faithfully,
Rev Gideon Cecil
