GRO moving towards digitising marriage, death, other certificates

As Government continues to take advantage of the technology that is being developed every day, Guyana’s General Register Office, through the Ministry of Home Affairs, will soon be digitising all types of certificates that are issued by the agency.
Although the agency has already developed a database for certain documents, it is currently in the process of digitising marriage and deaths certificate.

During a recent press conference at the Home Affairs Ministry, Minister Robeson Benn said this move would allow the information of citizens to be better secured.
“I think, fundamentally, the basic interest of the Government, and by extension the Ministry, is to have a more efficient process, one that is more responsive to the needs of our citizens; and to ensure that we do not have situations where people make repeated attempts to get certain documents,” the minister is quoted in a DPI story as saying.
He said that with one transaction, every information needed on a citizen will be available, instead of them having to run around to the agency more than once.
Additionally, Registrar General Raymon Cummings noted that whatever information is presented on the agency’s database about a person would remain as that at all times. It will not change. This, he said, decreases the chance of persons making multiple mistakes.
“The documents are scanned, and a database with all the information is created…So, it removes that chance of error when persons writing. In terms of technology, we have secured printers. The security feature on the certificate, that is known by the person who is required to know them, will be printed on the printer at the time when the certificate is printed. So, your document will be printed on a printer from the database,” Cummings explained as quoted by DPI.
The Registrar General further noted that as the agency moves forward to do this with the marriage and death certificates, the process would be cross-checked to make sure that all information on the database is precisely correct.
Meanwhile, Deputy Registrar General Visham Budhoo stressed the importance of Guyana becoming technologically savvy in these modern times.
“Those certificates will be more secure, as it will have more security features. We also would not like to be left behind. We want to move to technology, as the world is going in that direction,” Budhoo posited.

Structured digitisation
During the presentation of Budget 2024, Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh said Government is undertaking a structured digitisation masterplan that would allow 70 processes to be digitised in a phased manner.
The first phase, he said, will see the procurement of the required hardware and software systems.
“This first phase aims to achieve, among other things, digital birth certificates, death certificates, marriage certificates, passport processes, safety inspection certificates, emergency fire and medical response systems, and immigration support services, to name a few,” the Finance Minister said.
In addition, further digitisation would include implementation of the National eID, which began in March 2023 with the finalization of the requisite policies, and design is currently in progress.
“Issuance of these cards will begin in the second quarter of 2024, with $783.4M being budgeted to continue this project in 2024. This ISO- certified, International Civil Aviation Organization-accepted card system will allow for the issuance of resident identification and work permits, and will facilitate a more coordinated approach to public service delivery. The eID system would allow for fingerprint verification and validation of individuals, so that the need for proof of address and all the audit documentation may be eliminated,” Singh added.