Latest update May 13th, 2024 12:59 AM
Aug 31, 2022 News
Kaieteur News – A new $42.5M passport office was built for the residents of Lethem, Region Nine in 2021 but it was never used and had the issue not been raised by one of residents on Sunday during a Government outreach at St. Ignatius Village, the building probably would have remained unused for much longer.
Hosting the outreach was President Mohamed Irfaan Ali himself, and raising the issue of the non-functioning Passport Office was Daniel James.
James said to Ali: “There is a building, a Passport Office already built in Lethem, I just want to know when we will be able to use it because it would bring great benefit to the entire Region.”
Ali in his response promised that he will work towards having the building operational within a month’s time. “Ok don’t worry, by time I go back, at the next cabinet, I will raise the issue. I will work to have the Passport Office operational within one month’s time,” Ali said.
The idea to build an Immigration Office in Central Lethem was an initiative by the previous A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) Government. In December 2018, the then APNU+AFC Minister of Citizenship, Winston Felix, had announced that his Ministry had set aside some $50M from its $1.6B budget for the construction of the office.
The money was expended as part of a plan to decentralise immigration services from Georgetown and to eradicate the long lines normally seen in front of the Central Passport Office at Eve Leary. It was argued too that it would save Lethem residents from the hassle of travelling miles and spending lots of money for a trip to the city just to get their passports.
However, nearly a year has passed since the building was completed and Lethem residents are still spending thousands of dollars on transportation services to apply and uplift their passports from the Georgetown office.
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