Civil, identity registration law reviewed

By LUKE KAMA
PAPUA New Guinea Civil and Identity Registry Office (PNGCIR) will be a Government agency of its own under the Civil and Identity Registration (Amendment) Bill 2018, according to the Constitutional and Law Reform Commission (CLRC).
The proposed review of the Civil and Identity Registration Act 1963 was announced in Port Moresby yesterday by the acting Registrar-General of the PNG Civil and Identity Registry Office Michael Kumung, CLRC Secretary Dr Eric Kwa, acting Secretary for National Planning Koney Samuel, Electoral Commissioner Patilias Gamato and acting National Statistician Bernard Kiele.
Dr Kwa said government agencies responsible for civil registration were very important and given prominence and adequate support by governments around the world.
“For us here in PNG, this is not the case,” he said. “This very important agency has been neglected and has been sitting down as a division in the Department of Community Development for some time.
“This was until a recent minor amendment to the Civil and Identity Registration Act 1963 was done in 2014, bringing the office under the National Planning Department.”
Acting Registrar-General Michael Kumung said the review was important to provide the regulatory and institutional framework to enhance the effective and efficient collection and management of civil statistics.
“It will enable us to provide real-time data and statistics to the Government for planning and development because if you provide wrong data and statistics, then your planning is obviously wrong. Then you end up with false or wrong development agenda. Providing correct and real-time data and statistics to Government is crucial.”