Cabinet on Tuesday approved $9.7 million for the procurement of additional equipment for the Guyana passport office in an effort to reduce the waiting time of persons, especially those outside of Guyana, to acquire new passports which at present can take up to five months. Minister of State Joseph Harmon, speaking at his week post-cabinet press conference yesterday, also stated that plans are moving ahead for the decentralization of passport applications and passport delivery.
Listed at number six of the coalition government’s 100-day plan is the establishment of passport and birth certificate licensing offices in Berbice, Essequibo and Linden.
According to the minister, Cabinet took note of the concerns raised by citizens in Guyana and the diaspora about the time it takes to get a Guyana passport. He said that during President David Granger’s recent trips to Barbados and the US, citizens had complained about this issue. Complaints had also been made to several ministers during their overseas trips.
Harmon said those in the diaspora are saying that it takes as much as four or five months to get a Guyana passport. He said Minister of Citizenship Winston Felix briefed cabinet on the issue and said that there was a backlog of applications at the passport office and steps were being taken to ensure it was reduced considerably.
“Cabinet was assured this [the allocation of the funds] will reduce the time it takes for any Guyanese in the diaspora [to obtain a passport] and that within five days, not five months, those passports would be made ready.”
According to Harmon, Cabinet was also briefed by Felix on steps being taken to ensure that there is a certain level of decentralization of passport applications and passport delivery. This would make it easier for citizens “in Berbice, Linden, Lethem, Bartica and in the hinterland locations,” to access these essential documents which are necessary for them to travel and to do business, he said.
Residents from outlying areas have long been clamouring for such vital services to move closer to where they live as it is not only time-consuming, but also costly to travel to Georgetown where the only passport office is located.
