Government service center taken to Region Five

Feb 12, 2026 News

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(Kaieteur News) – Another government service center was on Wednesday commissioned in the Region Five village of Fort Wellington, to improve citizens’ accessibility to fundamental government services, affording ease of travel and saving travel time.

The addition of the new center follows last December’s commissioning of a similar facility at West Central Mall, Leonora, in Region Three.

Minister of Public Service, Government Efficiency and Implementation, Zulfikar Ally, in his feature remarks, said the new center was birthed from the vision of President Irfaan. Wednesday’s opening, the minister stated, brings to reality the president’s ambition to make basic benefits available and convenient for citizens.

“What you’re seeing here today is a representation of His Excellency, Dr. Irfaan Ali’s commitment to you. The love and the passion that he has for you, and to ensure as well that you all benefit from services that everyone is benefiting from Georgetown.”

While in Region Six last November, both President Ali and Minister Ally unveiled plans for the strategic positioning of several service centers across the country with the purpose of facilitating critical government services to citizens, essentially decentralising most of these services primarily acquired in Georgetown.

The service centers offer immigration and passport services, issuance of birth, marriage and death certificates through the general registrar’s office, enrollment for and issuance of digital identification card, processing and issuance of police clearance, among other important services.

The second of its kind, Minister Ally said so far, thousands of persons have already capitalised on the added convenience. He pointed to obtaining a police clearance and the hassle of waiting for one, as it is processed all the way through police headquarters at Eve Leary, requiring some amount of time, and for some, traveling to Georgetown. This has been made less hassling, he emphasised.

At the same time, the minister stressed the importance of citizens being not only afforded the convenience of these services, but these must be accompanied by respect from those conveying the services.

“I don’t want to hear that our citizens are going in public offices for public services and they are given a hard time, they are not spoken to too well, they are not treated too well. That is not the government that we will be leading. The government we will be leading is that the citizens come first, services will be brought to them in their communities, and every citizen, young or old, must be treated with respect,” the public service minister affirmed.

This forms part of the government’s step towards complete digitisation, allowing for citizens to access services online and without having to leave their homes, or enter an office in many cases.

“You’ve heard the president speak of the digitisation of NIS, for example. We don’t want you to go lining up for NIS. We don’t want you to go in to find out how much contributions you’ve had, or whether your employer is actually making your contributions. Right now, as we speak, you can go on the NIS website, you can create an account, and you can see how much contributions you have.”

The minister urged residents of that region to familiarize themselves with the plans of the administration and take advantage of same, and to also sign up for the E-ID. He disclosed too, that the government will in the new launch a ‘Citizens Connect’ app, a virtual platform for citizens to report community-related issues.

Joining the public service minister at the launch was Minister of Education, Sonia Parag. She said that over 70 community meetings were held with residents in the region. These meetings, she said, were to inform them of government’s commitment to providing convenience and access.

“While you will have to travel- and many of you will have to take a day out of your job, a day out from your life- and when we are saying a day, it’s not just an hour. It’s an entire day to go from Region Five to Georgetown to access these services. And when you do that, sometimes you don’t get, on that day, the service that you want, and you’ll have to go back again,” Minister Parag stressed.

She noted that government is keen on bringing effective and efficient services to communities as part of what transformation entails.

“So, while we are building nice buildings and we are putting up great schools, and making quality healthcare, we also have to make the services that are available to you easier for you to access.”

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• digitisation, Fort Wellington, Government service center, NIS, Zulfikar Ally

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