Dear Editor,

Many Jamaicans are at their wits’ end as it relates to the Registrar General’s Department’s (RGD) office in Twickenham Park, Spanish Town, St Catherine, when conducting business on a daily basis.

It has become commonplace, so it seems, for some staff members to make regular errors on customers’ marriage, birth, and even death certificates. Despite vast numbers of people voicing their complaints nothing seems to have changed — at least not in their favour.

So many people have been expressing their annoyance to me.

One customer expressed that he paid for the service to correct an error on his birth certificate and after three long years the problem has not been corrected. He paid $14,000 to do a search and to have the three-day service, but he said none of the services have been completed. Upon request for a refund of his money, he only received $9,000, without any explanation.

To confirm his statement, he gave me a copy of his voter identification card and it seems the error was on the part of the RGD. This has wreaked havoc in his life whenever he has to use his birth certificate.

A pastor recently intervened on his behalf and was just able to get a correct birth certificate this January and also a Jamaican passport. This is just one of many stories.

This kind of ‘sore foot’ problem has been ongoing for some time. I only share this one story.

To my mind, it is high time the relevant authority takes charge of this problem that affects us on a national scale, and to tidy up its affairs.

I know the RGD alone cannot take all the blame for some of the errors mentioned. Many times customers misspell their parents’ names — even their own names — due to lack of education or the inability to read and write. Nonetheless, the agency must pull its socks up and offer better and more efficient service to the people of Jamaica.

Alrick A Davis

alrico_dee@yahoo.com