COLLABORATION between the Ministry of Citizenship, the General Register Office (GRO) and the Guyana Police Force (GPF) will soon see officers in border locations commencing training to conduct registration of births.

The same was announced in a release by the Ministry on Monday. The release said that the Eteringbang community in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) has been identified as the first location where officers will be trained.

The decision came following a meeting of the National Multi-Sectoral Coordinating Committee.

In the release, Minister Felix said that since the government’s assumption to office, it has been working with a mandate of 100 per cent registration of births.
“There should be no child in Guyana, irrespective of their geographical location, who is not registered,” he said.

Minister Felix stated that he has already dispatched a letter to the Office of the Commissioner of Police requesting that a meeting take place with the General Register Office (GRO) to ensure that all systems are put in place for the training to begin.
He added that it is important for issues such as the storage of application forms, training schedules and sustainability be worked out between the two entities.
Felix also expects that the administrative and other issues would be finalised within one month’s time.

“What we are looking at is the fact that there should be sustainability. We would not want to train ranks and when they are moved from that location, there are issues. The absence of a rank trained in this area should not affect the system, so that is what must be looked at,” he said.

Eteringbang, Minister Felix informed, would be used as a pilot before registration is rolled out in other border locations.