Last August, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Fred Mitchell said The Bahamas would implement tamper proof “machine readable” passports early in 2003. On Sunday, he said those plans are not moving as “quickly” as he would like.
“I must admit that I am not satisfied with the pace at which this is going. Before I left (Haiti) I think that the letters of tender had been sent out to the selected persons who were going to be asked to submit bids for payment and so, we are just waiting now for these bids to come back,” he said, adding that there were also some “technical issues” involving immigration permits that delayed implementation.
“I am hoping that these are solved and we should get the tenders back shortly. I believe that once these tenders have been reviewed and settled, it will take some six to nine months to actually get the machines up and going. This is where we are and I must admit that I am somewhat embarrassed by this delay, because it should have been sorted out sometime ago,” said Minister Mitchell.
Mitchell on August 19, 2002, at a press conference shortly after his return from a trip to Jamaica, announced that by January of 2003, The Bahamas would have implemented tamper proof “machine readable” passports which will facilitate waiver agreements with various countries, including the United States for travel without the use of a visa.
At the time, he also said the estimated $5 million dollar system would be purchased from the Canadian Bank Note Company and would be able to track the international whereabouts of a person by the single scanning of a bar code into a machine. The passports, he said, would resemble United States visas with a computerised image that can be scanned. At that time he said persons who were interested in being vendors for machine readable systems, should be able to tender bids when the government implements the system.
An update on e-passport implementation was again carried out on October 14, 2002. Minister Mitchell at the time, said plans to implement the machine-readable tamper-proof passports were “underway” and the government is “about ready” to announce the tendering exercise for a company to produce the documents.
“The proposals for the tendering exercise have to be signed off by me and then a decision has to be made about the tenders. It will also need Cabinet approval to proceed to this stage, so we are in the process of generating the paperwork to get this decision done,” said Minister Mitchell but this has yet to happen.
Meanwhile, the passport office closed its doors for two days last week Wednesday and Thursday to prepare for the high demand in service expected during the summer months of June, July and August.
“We are looking at ways to be more efficient and how we can expedite matters much faster. We don’t close every year, but this year, we wanted to be prepared. And because we also relocated, we wanted to be more upbeat with what we do. During the summer months, we fight, work hard and work around the clock to meet the seven working day deadline. We may not meet this deadline for all persons, but we try as best as we can to shoot for the seven days,” Chief Passport Officer, Mr. Jack Thompson said at the time.
With the United States announcing that it intention of fingerprinting and photographing all visa-holding Foreigners arriving at US ports next year to prevent terrorism, Minister Mitchell said Sunday that he is aware of this, but would prefer not to give a response until he has briefed his colleagues on his views. He added however, that a number of Bahamians have expressed serious concerns and reservations about the matter.
“They have indicated to me that they feel as if this is a matter on which the highest priority ought to be put toward making representations about it and this is where I will leave it for the time being,” he said.
The tracking of about 23 million visitors by the United States is expected to create by the end of 2005, a comprehensive tracking system for everyone entering and leaving the country. It will also add 1700 new immigration inspectors to take digital fingerprints and photos. There will also be more personal interviews of visa applicants at embassies abroad, of which visa exempt travellers will not be excluded.
By Tamara McKenzie, The Nassau Guardian
