Stupidity at RGD and Passport Office
Published:Wednesday | April 27, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Dennie Quill, Contributor
STUPIDITY HAS been extremely busy in recent times, sharing residence with the Registrar General's Department (RGD) and the Passport Office in Jamaica.
Here's what is happening to some Jamaicans wishing to renew their passports. Persons who have held passports for several decades are now finding it difficult to renew them because of new demands for birth certificate details. The absurdity of this new requirement has left some people who live overseas mulling whether it is worth the hassle in order to retain their Jamaican identity and citizenship.
I am referring to cases in which the applicants have held passports from the 1950's and who have faithfully renewed their passports every 10 years by submitting their applications to Jamaican embassies and consulates. One can only imagine how frustrating it must be for these persons to be told now that their documentation is deficient and they need to apply for new birth certificates to have their passports renewed.
We need only to call upon Jamaican history to understand the evolution of civil registration which began in 1878. Originally, births were registered by the Church during baptismal service and mostly in Anglican churches. Obviously, only some births would have been recorded in that way. It was not mandatory for children to be baptised or registered for that matter.
challenges of home births
In those early days, home births were common and babies delivered by a midwife were often not registered until months, even years later.
Children born out of wedlock did not have their father's names on their birth certificates. So registration of births was fraught with problems, partly because of the loose family relationships that existed in the emerging society. It was prevalent for children to take their mother's surnames. It was also not unusual for a student to attend school in one name and to be known in later years by another name.
Additionally, there was spelling mistakes in registration so that a Christian name like 'Errol' could become 'Herrol' or surname 'Davis' turned into 'Davies'. Many mothers were registered as 'labourers' or 'domestics' when they were, in fact, attending classes. Things have changed in that regard, for recently I overheard someone telling a passport applicant who is unemployed to put "receptionist" as her occupation because it "look better".
These stories are common and demonstrate that back in the days, registration of births was not an exact science.
Fast forward to 2011, and imagine a 70-year-old woman who has lived outside of Jamaica since her teens being asked to find someone 10 years her senior to swear an affidavit to confirm her bona fides.
She obtained her passport more than 50 years ago and now comes the time for renewal; because her father's name is not on her birth certificate, she needs to find someone who is 10 years her senior on whom she can rely to vouch for her. That's simply ridiculous!
decades-old school records
In another case, an 84-year-old woman is being asked to get her school records from her rural primary school. Hello? With the passage of time, the ravages of weather and new school administration, very few schools are likely to have such records intact.
Yes, we acknowledge that there are criminals who would seek to commit fraud with travel documents, but mechanisms should be put in place to deter them or apprehend them, the idea cannot be to punish the law-abiding. In any event, what ever happened to the data that was originally captured at the time of application and granting of the passports? Does the passport office have these records?
In chest-pounding bravado the RGD has declared that it is a success story of renewed confidence in the public sector's ability to be efficient. Indeed, Dr Patricia Holness, the CEO, is a fine and conscientious public servant by every measure. However, she needs to sit with her counterpart at the Passport Office and determine how to sort out what can justly be described as a grave indifference to Jamaica's historic and cultural realities. These new rules have only succeeded in frustrating people and, worse, reminding us of centuries-old prejudices which are best forgotten.