For the past two weeks, funerals in Tobago have been delayed and in many cases halted as dead bodies have been piling up at funeral homes. In fact, the situation is becoming so dire that people are leaving their deceased loved ones at the hospital’s mortuary in a bid to avoid paying storage fees to funeral homes. It all stems from the unresolved issue involving the shutdown of operations at the Office of Registrar General’s Department in Tobago, which has been preventing people on the island from accessing death certificates which are critical to arranging funerals and burying the dead.
On Friday, Chief Secretary Farley Augustine revealed the island’s Registrar General officials have been unable to access the system and so the processing of civil—death and birth certificates—land and company documents have halted.
As a result, relatives of the deceased and officials from Tobago’s funeral homes are among those feeling the pressure.
Another official at the Scarborough General Hospital, who did not wish to be named, told Guardian Media yesterday that the situation is becoming so bad that relatives have resorted to leaving bodies at the mortuary to avoid paying exorbitant refrigeration and storage fees at funeral homes. This buys them time to go to Trinidad and organise death certificates through the Port-of-Spain Registrar General Department.
However, the official said the hospital is prepared for any overcrowding and will use a container bought during the COVID-19 pandemic to store bodies in the event Tobago’s mortuary runs out of space.
Over the weekend, funeral home owners said customers have not been able to properly plan funeral arrangements because of the uncertainty of travelling to Trinidad to obtain death certificates and return to Tobago.
Owner of Andy’s Caskets and Funeral Home, Andy Williams, said some of his clients are growing frustrated with the process.
“We had one family that told me they had to go to Trinidad to get death certificates to bring back to us. It is affecting us.
“We have been experiencing this problem for about two weeks. It’s about four different families that I have heard complain that they couldn’t organise the burial because of this problem. Remember, I’m not the only funeral home on the island, so I am speaking from my experience.
“One of the four families experiencing this problem managed to proceed with the burial. And it’s not at my funeral home, there are issues at the mortuary,” Williams said.
Shirelle Clarke, owner of Casket Emporium, spoke about the challenges and implications the impasse will have on the island’s funeral industry.
“Just today, we had customers come in who had to rely on a family member from Trinidad to go and get the death certificate and send it back to Tobago. This has posed many challenges for my customers, especially those who reside in this part of Tobago.
“We recognised this issue about a week and a half ago. The dates that people had wanted to have their funerals cannot happen because, of course, you can’t have a funeral unless the death is registered and the death certificate is obtained,” Clarke explained.
A representative from Union Funeral Home said customers have experienced a delay in burial since they have to take additional time to obtain the death certificate before they can approach the bank for funding the burial.
“The financial institutions only work with the electronic version. If they need to have a cremation, it would also be affected,” the representative said.
Keith Belgrove, Head of the Association of Funeral Professionals of T&T and owner of Belgroves Group of Companies, said that while the impasse has not affected his Tobago funeral home, he is willing to extend help to other funeral homes so that their customers can avoid taking the boat or the plane to Trinidad to acquire death certificates.
“Because of our network, our clients wouldn’t have to come to Trinidad. We would assist any funeral home in Tobago with this as well. We will have the papers transferred to Trinidad, and we would obtain them here.
“But our clients don’t experience difficulties because we are nationwide, and that is helpful. However, it is still a significant inconvenience because anything like death and birth certificates, and anything else that requires them, would be delayed,” Belgrove said.
Farley furious; PM says
it’s a complex issue
The matter has also left Chief Secretary Farley Augustine concerned about the consequences for the registration of deaths and births if Tobago does not regain access to the Registrar General services this week.
Speaking to Guardian Media on Saturday evening, Augustine asked, “Is the Government aware that burials cannot happen? Births cannot be registered? Land sales have halted as deeds cannot be registered? There is a cost to this.”
He added, “I am certain that there is nothing stopping them from legally granting credentials to officers in Tobago to get the system moving until it is resolved. I am waiting for the outcomes.”
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley said the issues surrounding the disruption in the services at the Registrar General’s Tobago office may be more complex than it actually appears.
Speaking to Guardian Media on Saturday evening, Rowley said it is an “emergent issue” which may be more complex than some may see and that the solution is really a complicated legal fix.
He added that this is why he was hesitant to give a date as to when exactly the issues would be resolved when asked if the island could expect services at the Registrar General’s office to resume early this week.
He said he did not want to make a pronouncement before the Attorney General’s office had a chance to advise him first.
Last Friday, Attorney General Reginald Armour, SC, said there appeared to be some “legal issues of some vintage to be resolved” between the Registrar General and the Office of Registrar General’s Department in Tobago, which had led to the present impasse.
The AG said then that he requested an urgent legal opinion from Michael Quamina SC regarding the relationship and lines of authority between the two offices.
“I received documents pertinent to that co-relationship last on Tuesday, October 10, 2023, and caused these to be delivered to Counsel. I have today reiterated to Leading Counsel the urgent need for his advice which I am assured that I will receive imminently, in order to enable me to advise the Cabinet and, in the interest of an expeditious resolution of this unfortunate impasse,” he said.