THE EDITOR, Sir:IT WOULD be an abject failure on my part, had I not taken the time and patience to write and recognise the tremendous part The Gleaner has played in highlighting the achievements and shortcomings of the following departments and agencies.
I want to commend these people, who certainly have put service above self, and have given us (the public) the unvarnished facts - Barbara Ellington, Georgia Hemmings, Klao Bell, Erica Virtue, Phyllis Thomas and their assistants.
What a wonderful bunch of women. They have done Jamaica proud!
Mr. Editor, Sir, in listening to the Wilmot Perkins show on Tuesday the 28th May I heard a conversation with Mrs. Holness, head of the R.G.D., on the rejection by the immigration department of what is called the old birth certificates as against the new birth certificates.
Mrs. Holness emphatically and pleasantly reiterated her previous declaration. "That the old certificate are still legal tender."
What is unclear is that two state agencies of the same Government is in a state of belligerency over a simple matter.
"Birth certificates" to accept or not to accept. Where does the law of the land intervene, and not the laws of bureaucrats.
In saying all the above, let me implore my countrymen and women to read more and to try to understand that in most cases of overbearing bureaucracy it is designed "to send the fool a little further".
The Sunday Gleaner of the 26th May 2002 took time out to explain, (through a bevy of women) to us, the reason for the loss of many, many hours.
I pray for these women. I also pray for myself as I embark on the arduous task of renewing my passport.
Should I leave St. Mary at 3 a.m. or sleep overnight?
I am, etc.,
LLOYD A.S. HENRY
P.O. Box 105
Highgate, St. Mary
