Glitches in the accreditation process by the National Secretariat for the Fifth Summit of the Americas yesterday forced participants to endure hours of delays in the procedure. Among those who encountered problems to get a personal, non-transferable Identification Badge was Zoë Reiter, the programme coordinator for Transparency International in the Americas. She was unable to collect her pass at the Accreditation Centre at the Old Fire Station Building at the corner of Abercromby and Hart Streets in Port of Spain.

“My accreditation is at the airport. I came in (to Trinidad) very early so I kind of beat the whole system. “They’ll have the pass sent here. I’m sure it will work out. It’s a lot to organise,” Reiter said. She was advised that international participants for the Hemispheric Private Sector Forum, Youth Forum of the Americas and Civil Society Forum were scheduled to collect their accreditation badges at the accreditation desk at the Piarco International Airport.

Reiter was joined by a local pre-accredited delegate, Boyd Reid, the Secretary of Transparency Institute (Trinidad and Tobago), who also expressed dissatisfaction with the process at the Accreditation Centre in Port of Spain. “It could have probably moved a bit more smoothly. The problem was that when you went in there you didn’t really know where you were supposed to go and you had to ask around,” he said.