RECENTLY,  I accompanied a friend to the Passport Office on Camp Street so that he can apply for the new CARICOM passport.

My friend was told that the passport in his possession was damaged and an affidavit stating how the said passport was damaged was required. As we were about to leave for Charlotte Street to get the affidavit done, an Immigration Officer told us to hold on, that he was calling a Commissioner of Oaths.
This Immigration Officer told us that this particular Commissioner of Oaths is a former police officer and once he signs the affidavit, processing the passport application will be faster for he personally will make sure my friend will not stay long in the line and he will get his new passport in five days.

We waited for about ten minutes and a man came to the passport office and took us and others to his home in Barrack Street, Kingston, Georgetown.  The time wasted while we waited for the gentleman to finish the affidavit was very tormenting. Imagine he has to do affidavits for four persons and he is typing with two fingers.

Finally, we returned to the passport office one and a half hours later.  The police officer informed us that the situation had changed and we would have to join the line at the back. At the point of interview my friend got the biggest surprise.

The cost to replace a passport that was damaged is $15,000 and a new passport will be given only after two months.

We did not have that amount of money so we decided to leave after wasting a lot of time. We will return sometime later with the $15,000, but I do believe that Mr. Benn, who is a sergeant, was more interested in sending us to his friend in Barrack Street because there is a special relationship between the two of them.

Why then would he make sure he send persons to that particular Commissioner of Oaths? Further, he misrepresented his office by giving us false hopes by the kind of information he provided.