Dear Editor,
On Friday, February 26, I entered the Citizens Bank and joined a long line, resigned to be there for a long time because there were only two tellers. Banks seem to be going through a frequent teller turn-over these days. However, after an hour and fifteen minutes it was my turn in front of the teller, and I presented my passport # AOO5030 as identification to get a cheque changed. She alerted me that it had expired, which I affirmed, explaining that they were not renewing old passports and I didn’t have a current ID since my initial registration process last year failed. I had been told by GECOM’s representatives that I had to get a deed poll to continue using the name that I have been using all of my life, including on legal documents. This was done on the last day of registration and I am still awaiting my ID card. The teller took my case to a young woman who was seated, and after a few seconds she returned to inform me at 3.10 pm, that I had to go and get the cheque endorsed, and only then could it be changed.
How do you describe service at the first level of Dante’s Inferno? The fact that the passport is expired and ceases to be valid as a legal travelling document is quite understood. The question is how does it cease to be valid as a legal document of local identification when its content is far more in-depth than the local ID card. Someone has to be able to explain the criteria and simple common sense used to conclude how an expired travelling document, not disfigured and not expired by decades, ceases to be valid for identifying the holder, when it has valid photo visas and the required photo of the holder staring at you. In every area of existence and functioning in Guyana it seems that the irrational, ridiculous and downright foolish have taken over.
Yours faithfully,
Barrington Braithwaite
Editor’s note
We are sending a copy of this letter to Citizens Bank for any comment they might wish to make.
