Hundreds of issues addressed in ‘real time’ during day one of OP Direct in Region Three

Over 600 cases were addressed during the first morning of the second iteration of Office of the President (OP) Direct hosted in Region Three at the Leonora Track and Field facility, Thursday.

Issues included concerns related to land titling, public assistance, job opportunities, pension payments, and education, among others.

OP Direct, a people-focused initiative of President, Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali, will see the Office of the President, as well as other government ministries and agencies, working in a different region two days per month.

President Ali speaking to the media just around noon, noted that due to the implementation of technology on government’s part, the cases were being resolved in a timely manner.

“In this system, from the time you enter, you’re able to be assigned to the different agencies. We (government) are able to track what the agency is doing and how the matter is being resolved. If it requires a higher-level intervention, we can extract that from the system. So, it’s a very efficient system, which is allowing us to move rapidly,” the president explained.

He said that the new system is in keeping with OP’s mandate to reduce bureaucracy in bringing the government to the people, and allowing them to experience governance in a comfortable environment.

“This is key. Sometimes people are not comfortable in an environment going into the bank and seeing people in a suit and tie. But in an environment like this, they’re more comfortable in handling matters, and also dealing with the structural problems that we have that they’re trying to change every single day. That is why moving our government system more to an electronic form, where technology is used, like I’ve just demonstrated, is what we have to get to, and getting people to move with single documents, instead of… big files. All of this is important,” he emphasised.

President Ali pointed out that the electronic system is convenient as well as sensible, as it reduces the chance of persons misplacing crucial documents in transit, and creates an avenue for documents to be stored and accessed easily by those who need them.

“So, some people came, for example, with a health file…. They’re moving with their entire health record, and it could get lost… When you have a patient management information system, all of that can change.”

Asked about pertinent issues being faced by Region Three residents, Dr Ali noted that land and housing were among residents’ most pressing concerns.

“Everyone wants to be part of the housing programme… We’re now processing from around 2017 to 2020. Now, you have to remember that the housing programme was dead for five years. So, we had a big backlog, and then you have a lot of new applicants. So that is a high demand area,” he said.

Issues related to local government and human services also arose. Several ministers of government, including Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance, Dr Ashni Singh, Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Charles Ramson, Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Nigel Dharamlall, Minister of Housing and Water, Collin Croal, and Minister within the Ministry of Public Works, Deodat Indar, were also present at the event.