By the middle of 2025, all departments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs will be automated

– The smart country program is moving forward
– says the Secretary General of the PPP

In a bid to build a modern and smart country, Vice President Dr Bharat Jagdeo said on Wednesday that all agencies under the Ministry of Home Affairs are expected to be automated, adding that the smart country program is moving forward.
Dr. Jagdeo disclosed this during his weekly press conference, where he said that automation of all functions of departments under the Ministry of Home Affairs will reduce corruption and simplify the processing process.

He said: “So the next project is to automate all the functions of the departments that belong to the internal affairs. So it will also reduce corruption, but it will also make things easier to process and, if you check with other databases, it will provide more scrutiny… but we will be able to solve crimes faster.”

Speaking about some specific things that should be automated, he noted that it starts with the RAC to have a single database of births, deaths and marriages, among other things.
In police stations, he said, this can be accessed and help better conduct cases across the country.

It also extends to firearms license records, tinting permits and many other things, which he noted, with automation, police forces will be able to cross-reference the same.
“Almost all police functions where you have to interact with the police, you’ll be able to have an easier system to work with,” he added.

In addition to the Guyana Penitentiary Service, the same will happen there with the development of a database of individuals that will take into account, for example, how many individuals are in custody and time spent, among other things, to ensure better case management.
Dr. Jagdeo noted that this would make it easier for the authorities to trace individuals with criminal records.

“We’re working on it right now, we’re developing it, and hopefully by August of next year, many of these modules will be live,” he said, which will bring more modern management.
On security, the Vice President said that by the end of the year, border security is expected to be strengthened by increasing screening of people arriving in Guyana at the airport through the paperless system.

Against this background, he noted that when the system is fully functional and citizens receive a secure national identity card, they will be able to take it to the airport kiosk and enter the country.
Instead of getting a passport stamped, this information for Guyanese will go into a database managed by immigration authorities.

However, foreigners may have to go through an enhanced procedure where they can go to a kiosk or online to fill out an immigration form, but still have to show their passports.
“So there’s an increase in border security here, and you can assess people who are leaving, coming in, their track record,” he said.

According to him, this is done in order to facilitate the work at the airport, and added that all this will be synchronized with the new electronic identification cards that are under development.
Meanwhile, Dr Jagdeo also told the media that the smart country program is moving forward as more than 600 cameras have already been installed and command centers have been set up in Regions 3, 4 and 6.

“These are the most densely populated regions, we started with them in the country and intend to expand to other regions,” he said.

He continued by noting that there are now people who are watching the camera feed and watching what is happening in the country.
In addition, this improvement and expansion will give the police a better capacity to fight crime.