Dear Mr. Editor,

I am getting very tired of the total stupidity being displayed by various Bahamian Government bodies and I refer specifically to the Voters’ Registration Department and Road Traffic Department.

In an effort to confirm a person’s identity, these two bodies are demanding to see a passport; 1) the only person entitled to demand to see a passport is an immigration officer and 2) there is no legal requirement for a Bahamian to have a passport.

I am saying this as my son has been forced to waste most of yesterday and this morning in an endeavor to relicense his vehicle. He had little problem with the inspection at Fort Charlotte, but was given the royal runaround by the cretin at the Sports Centre: “This passport is expired, sir” yes, about 8 months! But as my son pointed out and the officer confirmed, it was his picture and the document was genuine, and my son was not travelling but merely trying to use the document for identity, which had been asked for. The same problem with his Voters’ Card, also expired (from the 2007 election).

I'm sure we have enough lawyers in this Government … err …. in particular the Minister of Transport … so we should not be experiencing this sort of idiocy.

I understand that the reason given by National Insurance not allowing the new blue “smart” card to confirm citizenship is that all employees in the Bahamas now have this card, both citizens and expats.

Excuse me but my new N.I.B. smart card has a computer chip in it, is it so very difficult to programme ones citizenship to this chip, and, perhaps, to colour code the card reflecting citizen or not?

How much more of our money is this government going to waste?

Really, really wondering …..

Harry Strachan