KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC—Three hundred Jamaicans will be among the first to receive their digital national identification cards on Monday in the National Identification System (NIDS) pilot stage.
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. Prime Minister Andrew Holness followed them, as did Senator Dr. Dana Morris Dixon, Minister of Education, Skills, Youth and Information; Minister of Justice Delroy Chuck; Chairman of the Jamaica Umbrella Group of Churches Reverend Courtney Gordon; and a family of three.
NIRA Chairman Bishop Conrad Pitkin said that once the 300 receive their cards, “other persons who have indicated . . . that they would like to have their national identification card will be next.”
“As of January, when we 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 significant 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 our driver’s license, but… none of them have the level of security that this card has.”
Highlighting the card’s additional benefits, Holness said the electronic identity verification feature allows for more expeditious digital transactions to be conducted seamlessly.
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 can 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 centers across Jamaica. Bishop Pitkin said eight contracts have been signed, and those will be commissioned first.
“We are in the process of signing another 15 contracts, and before the middle of the year, we should have all our service centers across Jamaica ready. I am pleased to announce that there will be a mobile unit [to] reach persons in deep rural Jamaica,” he said.
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