Dear Editor,
The Guyana consulate office in New York needs to get its act together. This morning, Wednesday 22nd November, I arrived at the consulate office at 9:05 AM. I left my home in Brooklyn at 7:30 AM so that I could conduct my business at the consulate early and then head straight to work. I was submitting an application for a new passport. This would be quick and simple – so I thought!
The courteous office staff told all of us who were submitting applications for new passports to “Wait!” So we waited, and waited, and waited. During this waiting exercise, someone – obviously frustrated – observed, “Yu don’t miss yu contrie when yu come hay! Is de same dam ting in GT: everybody bissy in de office, but no body looking after de members of de public!”
Finally, at 9:35 AM, I was told about some new regulations that were relatively recently put in place regarding the issuing of the new biometric Guyana passports.
Let me be clear: I have no disagreement with the new measures implemented to safeguard the security of the issuance of Guyana passports. My problem is that there seems to be a persistent lack of timely and clear communication between the consulate and the Guyanese community whom it purports to serve.
All information and applicant requirements for these new passports should have been posted on the consulate’s website – including the fact that applicants for new passports must apply in person and be prepared to be subjected to an initial screening/interview by the Deputy/Assistant Consul General. Had I been privy to these and other changes that are now in place, I would have ensured that I am fully in compliance before leaving my home and taking time off from work to engage in what turned out to a fruitless and time-wasting exercise.
It is not enough for consulate office personnel to say, “Everybody knows this or that”. For example, on the new application for a new passport form there is no mention of exactly how many photographs an applicant has to submit. So, the applicant is left to wonder, two, or three, or four. But I guess the thinking is, “Everybody knows is two”.
The processing of visitors to the consulate office also needs to be more professionally organized. There should be clear, legible, and intelligible notices posted instructing visitors exactly where to position themselves. For example, Application For New Passports, Lane 1; Renewals, Lane 2; Uplifting Passports, Lane 3; Application For Visas, Lane 4; and Any Other Business, Lane 5. This type of clear and definite direction will eliminate the confusion many Guyanese experience when they visit the consulate office. A ticketing/number system also needs to be implemented in order to determine priority. As a visitor enters the office, he or she “takes a number”.
This establishes the visitor’s priority and eliminates the usual disagreements about who came before whom.
Finally, the criticisms contained in this letter are not intended to discredit the consul general or his staff. Nor are they designed to attack the PPP/Civic Government. They should be received as the observations of someone who recognizes that the government is doing its best to move Guyana forward, but the government needs to be shown where there are some slack screws that need to be tightened.
Yours faithfully,
Wilbert M. Stephenson
Brooklyn, New York
