By Amin Kef Sesay
The National Civil Registration Authority (NCRA), after a Cabinet approval on the 2nd March, 2022, has on the 22nd March 2022 secured a Parliamentary Ratification for the production of Securitized Identity Cards (National & ECOWAS Compliant), ID Verification System and Public Key Infrastructure (PKI).
This medium was also intimated that access to secure the ID Cards will be decentralized across districts where citizens and other residents in Sierra Leone will have the opportunity to obtain their ID Cards from their respective Districts thus easing the burden of movement to Freetown on people.
The Parliamentary Ratification took place in the Well of Parliament and Agreement ratified reads as follows:
“Agreement for the production and issuance of securitized multipurpose identity cards(National, Non-National & ECOWAS), ID Verification System and Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) between the National Civil Registration Authority (NCRA) and Constrat Systems Sierra Leone Limited”.
Presenting the Agreement, the Minister of Internal Affairs, David Panda Noah spoke about the mandate of the NCRA Act, in light of the production of identity cards and other important duties. He informed that the Institution has registered several people.
He also told Parliament that NCRA is building the capacity of personnel in order to meet the demand and other related required supports were on course. According to the Minister, the following identity cards would be produced: National, Non-National and ECOWAS identity cards.
The identity cards, he said, would serve many purposes including accessing banking, National Social Security and Insurance Trust (NaSSIT) amongst others.
According to him, the development would help the authorities to track criminals and help in resolving some matters further emphasizing that the identity cards would help in many ways.
With this identification and registration, the Minister said data management would be enhanced and informed that NCRA had registered 5.9million people on their data base. He also stated that the Agreement has no implication on the State and Government would also benefit.
The NCRA, he said, is on massive awareness regarding same and went on to assure Parliament on the confidentiality and privacy of users.
Contributing to the debate, Chairman of Internal Affairs Committee, Hon. Alusine Kanneh said his colleague MPs were au-fait with the development regarding the identity processing adding that they have been waiting for the identity cards.
He informed that identification of this nature would help citizens to identify and curb out criminality as well as help people to travel across ECOWAS countries.
On his part, Hon. Abdul Karim Kamara said the identity cards would help the people to go through services. He recalled bad incidences related to criminal impersonation, adding that the Agreement would address some of the similarity problems.
“With this one, I am sure would address justice related issues,” he stated.
However, he raised concerns over the price of the National Identity Card, Le75, 000 as exorbitant for ordinary people. He also informed that the attachment of the National Identification Number would ease the process of passport issuance.
Hon. Sahr Charles said having a national identification card is prudent and recalled the process from the past Government and commended the current Government for continuity. He also told the Minister to look into the pricing for the people and spoke about the decentralization of the system to ease accessibility.
He also appreciated the production of the identity. He said they would want to see other features in the identity cards especially for students and ease tracking of criminals and other benefits adding that the country has been far behind for this kind of development.
Hon. Joseph William Lamin described the day as very important, relating to the identification to benchmarking. He informed that they are coming to have a reputable identification. He spoke about confidentiality of the process, in light of protection. The MP informed that NCRA has registered 5.9million people, adding that it was very significant and spoke about the uniqueness of the identity cards as well as duration and cost. He informed that the job was well done and it was a merit for the Government scorecard.
Hon. Wuyata Songa highlighted the inter relation between identification and security, referencing a recent incidence that affected her.
Leader of Opposition, Hon. Chernor R.M. Bah said the identification system had been a process from the past Government to present. He informed that Agreement is necessary but decried the huge cost of the transaction especially for the ECOWAS identity card and pleaded on the Minister to do the needful for the people of Sierra Leone.
Concluding the debate, the Acting Leader of Government Business, Hon. Bashiru Silikie said the Agreement is not controversial and supported the Opposition Leader’s submission for the fees for the National ID card and highlighted the other cost of national ID cards in the Sub-Region relating to pricing. The Acting Leader highlighted the importance of the National ID Card when it comes to operations .He called for decentralization of the production of the National ID Card.
In another development, Parliament has on the same date, 22/03/2022 ratified the following Agreements :
- Air services Agreement between the Government of Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the Government of the Republic of Sierra Leone
- Bilateral Air Services Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Sierra Leone and Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
- Memorandum of Understanding between the Aeronautical Authorities of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Republic of Sierra Leone
- Bilateral Air Services Agreement between Government of the Republic of Sierra Leone and Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and
- Memorandum of Understanding between the Republic of Sierra Leone and Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The various Agreements were presented by the Deputy Minister of Transportation and Aviation, Rex Bhonapha.
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