The Tribune

THE Passport Office on Thompson Boulevard is a lesson in how not to run a government office or, for that matter, an office of any kind. It is a throwback to a bygone era.

In an age when you are able to order anything from airline tickets to a new car online, the Bahamas Passport office is a relic that should be relegated to a classic textbook example of maximum inefficiency. It is a testament to the practice of an art form called “line up to line up”. And because Bahamians are largely obedient people, that is exactly what they do at the Passport Office.

We do not know how offices at embassies or consulates in other cities work but we can address the issues at the office in Nassau and urge a total renovation of the process that robs people of their time and patience while disrespecting them totally.

If you have not had to renew a passport lately or apply for a new passport because yours has been lost, stolen or damaged, you have not had the privilege of being herded like cattle and ordered to sit small. It is not as though anyone in particular is rude; it is just that the process, frankly, stinks.

Here is how it works. It starts out fine. You can download a form online, print and complete in all caps, blue or black ink. With that in hand along with three passport photos and the cash you will need, renewal is $50, you go to the office on the hill. You called ahead to see what are the best days or hours but they can’t tell you, it is always busy, they say politely. So you take your chances.

Once in the door, a member of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force hands you a number and tells you to take a seat. Do not pay attention to the numbers that come up on the screen, he says. That’s for some other part or parts of the process. So you take a seat and minutes tick by, then a half hour, then an hour, then more minutes. There are only eight more numbers ahead of you. More minutes. You are thinking of everything you could be doing or need to do or will you be able to do the school run and how much trouble will you be in at work.

And finally, it is your turn. 56, 56 they shout. You climb over all the other people in the row of chairs, moving as fast as possible lest they think you have left and call 57 and you have to repeat the whole process all over again. Go to the window over there, you’re told. You do. The lady behind the window which you are stooped at takes your papers and your photos. She enters information on her computer, hands you a form and a number. It’s a new number, different from the one you surrendered.

You are told to sit back down and wait for that number to be called. You do as told. Again, minutes tick by. Eventually your number comes up on the monitor which shows numbers for steps two and three so there is a lot of confusion among those people who do not get it that sometimes numbers ahead of theirs are called because it is for a different part of the process.

So you, now at step 2, go to the cashier’s window. $50, she says, you hand her the money. She hands you yet another number and by now you know the routine. You have a number in your hand which signifies that you should have a seat attached to your bottom. You take one and wait for the third step in the process. It is called enrolment.

Again, the minutes tick by, you have now been there more than two hours, the woman who came in to sell fruit has left and the woman at the front whose job it appears is to keep the peace is telling you you should see it on a busy day. You don’t want to, you assure her.

Finally, your number shows on the monitor. You go to Window 3, again noticing that there are six windows but only two or three seem to have anybody working behind them at any given time. Two and a half hours later, you emerge with the information that your passport will be ready in a month. A month! Well, it could be a little sooner. Do you want us to call you if it comes in before, the lady asks nicely and adds a name and number to a list she is keeping on a steno pad.

There are only two reasons for a system that relies on patience, obedience and a dozen windows for a three-part process. One is an opportunity for pay-off. You can skip the herded cattle treatment if you know somebody and give them a few dollars. Or whatever the going amount is. Or, if not to encourage pay-offs, then it is simply because no one cares about living in the past when the world has moved on.

There was a time when you could apply online for an appointment. The form still exists. It is dated 2005. We did not see any evidence of appointments being handled now. That would be too sensible.

Time is the most valuable, non-renewable resource we humans have. Fix the passport mayhem and treat people with respect. This is one step the government and the Minister of Foreign Affairs can do that will cost little to nothing and could save money by making the process less labour intensive and a far better experience.