07th January 2010
The Registry of Births and Baptism

Surprisingly, the “mess” that had Saint Lucians in an uproar and had pushed the government to do something, still continues. And I am not talking here about the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force, which has been the target of the public year in and year out over its role and function and its effectiveness in combating crime and lawlessness. I am talking here about the Registry of Births and Baptism.
Walk into that building on any given day it is opened to serve the public and the complaints hit you right in the face.
If it is not names wrongly spelt on the certificates it is the inability of staff there to locate certificates after issuing the required receipts for holders to come collect their certificates at the required time.
And the list of problems just continues to grow.
The department could not explain why a receipt holder told to collect a birth certificate in July 2009 was unable to collect that birth certificate on the date given and on the following months August, September, October, November and December of the same year.
That receipt holder is still trying to collect that birth certificate in January of 2010.Throughout these past months all personnel at the department could say was “It’s not ready yet.”
The department has no answer to queries made by another individual as to why a name change, which had gone through all the rightful processes months ago, was still not entered into its computers up to yesterday after the documents were handed to personnel there who made it clear that the change of name would be entered.
The problems associated with the birth and baptism registry is well known to all Saint Lucians having been aired and documented in the media time and time again.
At one point the situation reached such dreadful proportions that government had to step in to provide a proper building and working conditions for staff even going as far as computerizing the entire department , a move that was said will expedite work and the time people would spend at the place and improve the accuracy of reports.
Today the problems encountered by people coming in to transact whatever business their come to transact at the department have not decreased.
A word of advice to Saint Lucians: Prepare yourself to spend a day in that department should you have business to take care of there. It is that bad. One would say that the situation has improved compared to what it was a year or two ago, but has it?