By Vanessa Braithwaite
THE Linden Passport Office has issued 2,623 passports since August 2019 when it commenced services, causing residents to save approximately $7869000 in transportation and other expenses to travel to Georgetown to access citizenry services. This money would have been filtered back into the communities, therefore, making them more sustainable. The coalition government has the promotion of sustainable communities as a priority and will continue to decentralise pertinent services.

This was relayed to those at the official commissioning ceremony of the passport office, on Thursday, by Director General of the Ministry of the Presidency, Lt. Col., (ret’d) Joseph Harmon. Harmon said one of the basic elements of local democracy is the decentralisation of public services and with the advent of Local Government Elections (LGE), the government ensured that every other tier of local democracy is achieved in the various regions. The first step was the return of LGEs, then the establishment of capital towns, which was followed by decentralisation of government services.

“Within the context of decentralisation of government services, this passport office forms part and the passport office here is just but one element in that decentralisation of government services. We have decentralised the Guyana Lands and Survey Commission, we have decentralised the Guyana Revenue Authority, we have decentralised the passport offices so that people can have access to these facilities,” Harmon said.

Decentralisation was further manifested with the ‘Government Comes To You Initiative’, which saw all regions benefitting from a wider spectrum of services under pop-up tents. This, he said, is a realisation of the President Granger’s vision to ensure the desires of all Guyanese, irrespective of residence, are prioritised and they benefit from equity in services.

“It was at one of the ‘Government Comes to You initiative’ in Linden, it was realised that the desire of Lindeners were to bring citizenry services closer to them. Every part of this country which you go, you can see that manifestation where the country is being developed in an equal and equitable manner. No community is left behind… and so that development which started in 2015, is spread all across this country,” Harmon said.

It was in August 2016 that citizenry services were established in a temporary office in Linden. Minister with responsibility for Citizenship, Winston Felix, in his overview, said that the efficiency in the service, removed the hassle of Lindeners having to travel to Georgetown to access same. In 2017, the process to identify a land commenced, followed by the procurement process. In December 2017, the sod was turned for the new passport office in Retrieve, Linden. In July 2017, the building began testing its equipment which was bought to the tune of US$3.5M. Since then, 2,623 residents of Region 10 benefitted from services at the office.

“May this edifice continue to serve the residents of Region 10 with dignity and pride and with greater ease for residents, as government continues [to provide] a better life for Guyanese,” Minister Felix posited.

Currently, another passport office is being constructed in Region Nine and other regions will benefit from a passport office under the coalition government, including Regions One, Two, Seven and Eight.

Deputy Mayor, Wainwright Bethune, in expressing appreciation on behalf of the residents of Linden, said the passport office is another testimony and manifestation of government’s promise of a good life.

“For many years, many residents of Linden and by extension Region 10, if you wanted a passport, that meant waking up at three and four in the morning and for some of us, actually sleeping in Georgetown. That is no more,” Bethune said.

Moving forward, he urged residents to be the vanguard for the edifices that provide these services, ensuring they are cherished and maintained.

Regional Chairman, Renis Morian, commended central government for seeing development as a holistic process and ensuring communities benefit from the bounty of development.
“The impact of just having this building here creates in our minds that this government is taking us in the right direction…. I have never seen so many things being built all across this nation and I am happy that residents can now come and access the services here rather than come to Georgetown,” Morian said.

In addition to processing passport applications, the office also processes other documents such as birth and death certificates.

Also present at the opening ceremony were Minister of Foreign Affairs, Karen Cummings; former Member of Parliament, Jermaine Figueira; and senior ranks of the Guyana Police Force and the Immigration Department.