THE Ministry of Public Telecommunications will be collaborating with the Ministry of Citizenship to make a more effective passport application system. Public Telecommunications Minister Catherine Hughes told the Government Information Agency (GINA) that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) would be used to make the process easier and faster.

Hughes said the ministries are working together to get to the stage where persons would not only have the passport forms, but would be able to fill them up online and then the staff at the Passport Office would be able to view those forms to ensure all the necessary information is provided.

The minister noted that improvements to the system would fast-track the process, and the waiting time would be reduced. “The end result is that the whole process, (which entails) that you would have had to come down to the passport office, line up, take a number and sit there for five hours; not forgetting that unfortunately we have people not from Georgetown, but as we saw recently people from Berbice, Essequibo that come down and wait, and all those hours waiting to be able to get there to hand over their form…,” Minister Hughes explained.

Hughes said that part of her Ministry’s vision, is to set up a system wherein more of the stages for the passport application can be done online, which would allow for less time spent at the passport office.

Earlier in the year Minister of Citizenship, Winston Felix, announced that passport services would be decentralised to Linden, while, services in Anna Regina and New Amsterdam would commence soon.

Information from the Ministry of Citizenship stated that persons in these locations can apply for renewals of passports and uplift them in the regions. First-time applicants would still have to travel to Georgetown.

The Ministry of Public Telecommunications was established in January of 2016 with a mission to have a strategic placement of ICT in Guyana’s development agenda. (GINA)