JEDDAH — Seraj Omar Shami breathed his last without succeeding in his pursuit of acquiring his national ID card, a genuine right for every citizen. Shami, who spent most of his life serving his country in one of the government sectors, began his quest to get his ID card, which he had lost several years earlier, reissued after the death of his wife some years back. He spent his last years between his ramshackle house and the Civil Affairs Bureau in Jeddah, in an effort to get a replacement card. But he died without fulfilling his life dream, said his wife's niece H.F., who was looking after him until his death. H.F. said she too had been helping him with his efforts for years at the Civil Affairs Office in Jeddah. She said that Uncle Seraj was one of thousands of citizens who suffer because of the snail pace of procedures and bureaucracy in government offices. Commenting on this, Muhammad Al-Jassir, the Civil Affairs Bureau spokesman at the Ministry of Interior, said the case of Shami was a rare one but was not unusual, not because of professional inefficiency but due to the long procedures defined by the Civil Status bylaw. He said the procedures for replacing a lost ID card for a person who is still alive usually takes a long time as was the case of Shami. Many petitioners add to the delay by wrongly believing that their papers are complete. Al-Jassir said the Civil Affairs Bureau has especial staff to answer the petitioners' inquires and also to help them complete the necessary procedures. There is also a toll free telephone number 920022133 to help the service seekers with their transactions. — SG
