Last week, we took you to the Attorney General's Press conference where one of the subjects was the state of the vital statistics department.
It's a department that many have claimed is in desperate need of revitalization, with complaints of long lines, unprofessional service, and grave errors all being sources of major frustration to its clients.
We wanted to understand the source of that frustration for ourselves and when we sent our news team out this morning they found two of the department clients who were very disgruntled indeed - but we also found that misunderstandings and information breakdown are also factors that loom large:
A trip to vital stats is not something most Belizeans look forward to, and even though most will have to make the trip at some point in an effort to renew vital documents, for many, it can be a frustrating experience.
And that's just the case for Belizean-American Colville Murillo, and that's "Colville", spelt like the former governor-general, but you wouldn't know that by checking his birth certificate. It's something he's been persistently trying to change even though he hasn't been having much success.
Colville Murillo, Disgruntled Citizen
"It's been two years now I've been trying to get the right spelling fixed and it still comes back with the fault as COLVILLE instead of COLVILLE."
Cherisse Halsall:
"How many attempts have you made to get the birth paper out?"
Colville Murillo, Disgruntled Citizen
"Four or five and I got fed up at some point and I said you know what from 2020 I just gave up because every time I come here it isn't done right."
Cherisse Halsall:
"This is an error being made by this department correct?"
Colville Murillo, Disgruntled Citizen
"Yes, yes because after 2020 they still haven't put this in the system yet it's still coming back as CALVILLE after 2020 this should have been in the system and it still isn't in the system yet so it's still coming back as CALVILLE so I'm not saying it's a party thing or the UDP but I've been trying to do this since UDP was in now the government changed and we are still on square one."
And, far from a policy problem, the issues at vital stats, it seems, are systemic.
Cherisse Halsall:
"Based on your observation over the last two years, what is the problem?"
Colville Murillo, Disgruntled Citizen
"Well, maybe not enough manpower, things just are lack of interest I believe you know, so something has to be done. If you notice, look at how the people are sitting out here in the heat. I asked the security if I could come in last Friday and he told me no you have to stay outside, you know, and then when I showed the lady inside the error she told me you have to come back Friday, sorry you have to come back Monday, this was Friday and she told me you have to come back Monday. I've spent four hours sitting out here."
Cherisse halsall:
"And that's after three prior days of being out here?"
Colville Murillo, Disgruntled Citizen
"Yup, back and forth, back and forth. You come in the morning, submit your thing, pay for it, come back the following day after 3:00, and so after three I was still waiting for waiting then I realized at 3:30 or 4:00 that they spelt the thing wrong again."
Much like the situation at the Immigration Department, errors made on documents are causing serial frustration.
Colville Murillo, Disgruntled Citizen
"I can't go up and down anymore, I had enough. I want to know if the Prime Minister can't make a call like how he made a call for the lady with the plants. If he can't make a call to try and get things right out here. Look at how these people are sitting out here in this heat."
"A lady was beside me the other day, she was pregnant and had a young baby in her hand you know and be on the sidewalk, look how we have to sit down in front of this storefront, no seat no coverage, nothing like that."
And once Murillo was done airing his grievances we also heard from Orangewalkena Laura Chin whose complaints aligned perfectly with his.
Cherisse Halsall:
"What are some of the frustrations, minor and larger than you've incurred just being out here?"
Laura Chin, Disgruntled Citizen
"Frustrations are I show them my paperwork, they write it out, they go and prepare it, I get the paperwork at 4:30 when they're about to close, it's wrong, the spelling is wrong, typing is wrong, something is wrong and then oh come back tomorrow, come back tomorrow, every day they give me the paper at the last minute of the day and I'm sitting in there all day."
"There must be some way that they can reform this place why is it run this badly, it should be running smoothly."
But the long lines day after day offer proof that things at this department are far from a well-oiled machine, although if you heard the AG tell it on Friday, the solution is more space and it's on the way.
posted (May 6, 2022)
Magali Marin-Young, Attorney General
"Hopefully, when we relocate we can expand the amount of clerks we have to expedite the service but because of the location, there is no room for us to put any physical body, additional clerks in that place, I don't know if you've visited that place and seen how cramped it is. It's a matter of space and as soon as we move to the Charles Bartlett we'll be able to expand the clerks and aim to provide speedier service to members of the public."
We reached out to the Attorney General's office for comment and late this evening, Acting Deputy Registrar for Vital Statistics Israel Alpuche who clarified details of Murillo and Chin's cases.
He called Mr Murillo's case a quote "misunderstanding" and explained that Mr. Murillo had at birth been, quote: "duly registered as Calville" - with an "A", not an "O". He goes on to say that Murillo did a deed poll in 2020 to correct his name and was of the impression that his birth paper would thereafter reflect "Colville". However, what Murillo didn't understand is that quote: " the original birth entry and information remains the same notwithstanding a change of name." He added, quote "A new practice since 2021 has been that all deed polls recorded are noted at the bottom of the person's birth certificate under "Notes" End quote. Alpuche also indicated that all this was explained to Murillo, who received a new birth certificate and registrar certificate with notes included at the bottom.
And the Crown Council also explained the case of Ms Chin saying quote: "In Ms Chin's case her grandfather's surname was "Mendosa" - with an "S" and her family in the US has been carrying "Mendoza" - with a "Z" without realizing the patriarch of the family is Mendosa. - with the S" He goes on to say, quote: "As a result, when Ms Chin applied for her record, she was of the belief it was a mistake when in truth that was what the register has."
Alpuche went on to apologize to both clients for the miscommunications and explained that the department intends to continue to improve its services. In the meantime, they ask that any queries or complaints be forwarded to info.ministry@agm.gov.bz
