Hundreds of Jamaicans to Get New National ID Cards as National Identification System Rolls Out
KINGSTON, Jamaica – Three hundred Jamaicans will be among the first set of people to receive their digital national identification cards on Monday in the pilot stage of the National Identification System (NIDS).
Prime Minister Andrew Holness receives his national ID card from Chairman of the National Identification Registration Authority, Bishop Conrad Pitkin (left). Looking on are Justice Minister Delroy Chuck (second left) and Minister of Education, Skills, Youth and Information, Senator Dr. Dana Morris Dixon (right) who also received their cards.Governor General Sir Patrick Allen and his wife Lady Allen were the first to receive the cards on Friday as the National Identification Registration Authority (NIRA) was officially launched. They were followed by Prime Minister Andrew Holness; Minister of Education, Skills, Youth and Information, Senator Dr. Dana Morris Dixon; Minister of Justice Delroy Chuck; and Chairman of the Jamaica Umbrella Group of Churches, Reverend Courtney Gordon; and a family of three.
NIRA Chairman Bishop Conrad Pitkin said once the 300 receive their cards, “other persons who have indicated . . . that they would like to have their national identification card, they will be next.”
“As of January, when we would have completed all those who have indicated and are in our system, we will open to the public,” he added.
Prime Minister Holness has encouraged all Jamaicans to participate “in this very important chapter in our nation, where every Jamaican can have a secure national ID”.
“The NIDS provides the basis on which we can now claim to be a digital society,” he said. “We have several identification documents… we have passports, electoral IDs and we have our driver’s licence; but… none of them have the level of security that this card has.”
Highlighting the card’s additional benefits, Holness said it allows for more expeditious digital transactions to be conducted and in a seamless way, due to the electronic identity verification feature.
For persons opening bank accounts, for example, the instantaneous verification of identification through NIDS eliminates the need for them to present two or more forms of identification, or have their identity confirmed by a Justice of the Peace.
“This card has the ability to verify your identity on the spot. This will reduce, not just the type, but the cost of identity verification,” Holness pointed out.
There will be 24 NIDS enrolment centres across Jamaica. Bishop Pitkin said contracts have been signed for eight, and those will be commissioned first.
“We are in the process of signing another 15 contracts, and so before the middle of the year, we should have all our service centres across Jamaica ready. I am pleased to announce that there will be a mobile unit [to] reach persons in deep rural Jamaica,” he said.
