Dear Editor,

The Registrar General’s Department’s website boasts of many things. For most citizens it will come as a big surprise to learn that “The Registrar General’s Department (RGD) plays a key role in national development ….” As part of its mission statement the RGD commits to:

“Provide a central national facility for effective authentication and safekeeping of public records so that there is a secure repository for all data, concerning the registration and recording of vital events (including adoptions, naturalisations and deed polls).

Provide access to certified copies of public documents to customers, in a timely fashion, on the payment of the appropriate fees.” (Taken from the RGD’s website – emphasis mine.)

Despite these comforting promises, the Registrar General’s Department continues to laugh contemptuously in the face of customers like me who believed that there was no significance to the RGD being made an Executive Agency on April Fool’s Day in 1999, and expected an improvement in service. Twelve years later, despite numerous complaints to Barbara Gloudon, Mutty Perkins, Tell Claudienne and letters to the editor, there has been no improvement in the service provided by the agency. The RGD may be proud of its “Bedside Registration” programme, but that means nothing when the department repeatedly fails to provide applicants with documents in the time it prescribes, or at all.

On July 4, 2011, I applied for two copies of a marriage certificate via the RGD’s website. I paid for the “Express Service”, as the RGD refers to it. According to the RGD’s website, the documents should have been delivered in three days. Like everyone else who has called a talk show or written a letter to the editor complaining about the RGD, I am yet to receive the documents over two months later. Note that if I had paid for “regular” delivery I should have received the document within 6-8 weeks (August 29 the latest).

On August 9, 2011, I wrote to the RGD inquiring about the status of my application and provided them with the ATS tracking information number (0806-0243-9767) which was generated upon application. On August 15, 2011, I received the following response from RGD’s Marsha Beaver:

“… We kindly ask that you provide us with a copy of the old marriage certificate that you may have in your possession as we are unable to locate a record for the marriage.” (Emphasis added.)

How can the only government entity mandated to provide a “secure repository for all data” be so careless, negligent or reckless in its execution of its functions? Had I requested a marriage certificate for my great-great-great-grandmother, I could understand. Two unanswered e-mails later, I have not been refunded my money and no one from the RGD has had the basic courtesy to respond to any of my e-mails. So essentially, the RGD has taken my money and in breach of contract has failed to provide me with either the documents or a refund.

How is it that after 12 years of public complaints the Government of Jamaica has done nothing to compel the RGD to perform its duties? What are the law-abiding citizens who are victims of the RGD’s incompetence to do? Are we expected to block roads, burn tyres and destroy property like lawless, uncivilised people in order to be treated with some respect?

Are the powers that be going to allow another April Fool’s Day to creep up on us with the RGD serving no useful purpose to the citizens, or will someone with the power do something for the law-abiding citizens of this country for a change?

Tanya SE Burke

thetanyaburke@yahoo.com