Commentary

Passport office negligence

THE LEAD STORY in yesterday's STAR said it was no longer compulsory to get new machine-readable passports before December 31, 2006.

According to the article, the old ones are valid up until their expiration dates. The story said this bit of information was not mentioned in the series of advertisements that were carried starting April last year.

Since the advertisements, several Jamaicans have been rushing to get the necessary document in order to have their passports changed to meet the new requirements.

But why didn't the passport office state in the advertisements that the old passports would remain valid up until expiration. The office went as far as to advertise dates for passports expiring in particular years to be sent in to the office to be changed.

Why did the office neglect to tell the public about the changes in the requirements? And, if indeed, as Donovan Nelson, public relations officer for the Ministry of National Security stated in the story, that efforts were made to tell the public that their passports were still valid up until its expiration, why wasn't this done on a wide-scale basis as the initial advertisements informing the public of the need to change their passports by 2006.

The fact is, this new regulation had created an unnecessary panic and rush among Jamaicans, which could have been avoided if the authorities had disclosed all the facts.