Dear Editor,
There is news that the Government agencies will be setting up appointments for the un-vaccinated citizens who the Government is mandated to serve. This appointment system it seems is to add a layer of burden as an incentive to get citizens to vaccinate so that well, they could go and sit and wait in line and so on.
A citizen, Shazaam Ally wrote about his experience at the Passport Office and called for an appointment system. It is good that the Government is looking at ways of doing appointments – the vaccinated and un-vaccinated and the Passport Office would no doubt benefit from an appointments system. Unless the caring Government is not so interested in using appointments as a way to improve service to citizens but rather to add to the aggressions citizens already face when having to deal with the Government.
None of the manifestoes had anything about efficient Government services. Caring though is so much more than handing out cash grants and hampers. Going back to ‘normal’ after the pandemic is not going to be good if it will mean that Guyana is not going to use technology and other ways to improve citizens’ access to services the Government is mandated to provide whether they care or not.
The Passport Office seems to be the best place, a wonderful place to start with the appointments system as mandated by the Task Force.
Yours sincerely
Vidyaratha Kissoon
