Passport Office for Mabaruma
– Hosororo residents welcome decentralisation of Govt services
– hinterland development on track
DPI, Guyana, Monday, October 21, 2019
The government continues to deliver in Hinterland communities as the township of Mabaruma is slated to have an Immigration and Passport Office constructed within the sub-district. While it will be located in Mabaruma, the office will serve residents of the Mabaruma, Matarkai and Moruca subdistricts.
The announcement was made by Director-General (DG) of the Ministry of the Presidency Joseph Harmon at a community engagement with residents of Hosororo, Region 1, on Saturday last. At the engagement, the DG assured residents that the government is there to serve the people and to act in their best interests.
While underscoring that the government places a high premium on public services, such as education, health and increased river and road connectivity, Harmon also stated that the administration is also focused on the decentralisation of public services.
During the meeting, a resident requested more efficacy in the registration system in the region to ease the burden residents faced over the last few decades in obtaining birth certificates, passports and marriage certificates. “Residents leave from here to go to town to look after birth certificates and sometimes it takes months to come back,” the resident said.
DG Harmon explained that the establishment of the passport office in the township will allow for greater extension of government services; referring to the registration of births and deaths.
“We have begun the decentralisation of government services so that the access to direct services is much easier for citizens. In all of the townships, we are going to establish these extensions of government services so you can expect that coming very soon so you won’t have to go to Georgetown, everything is right at your doorstep. This is what we call a paradigm shift,” Harmon said.
Similar interventions have been made in the townships of New Amsterdam, Lethem and Linden.