District signs agreement with civil registry

DISTRICTS that have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Civil Registry for the national identity (NID) programme should commit funding for the project, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Justice and Attorney-General Davis Steven says.
Steven’s Esa’ala district was the 24th district to sign a partnership agreement with the PNG Civil and Identity Registry Office (PNGCIRO) on Friday.
“DDA’s having agreed resolved to enter into these types of arrangement knowing very well of the budget implications,” he said.
“Right now, these are initiatives that are left for the districts or provinces to undertake.
“We are encouraging them to do this as it is a national programme.
“It was initially designed to be delivered form Waigani.
“The importance of this programme cannot be under-estimated and so under our leadership we are encouraging leaders, both, from the district and the provincial levels, to avail themselves for this service.
“The sooner we do it, the better.
“It would have been ideal with the national census on us and these programmes would have been jointly delivered.
“For now, we are grateful that PNGCIRO registrar-general Noel Mobiha and the team are pushing forward in spite of their constraints and difficulties.”
Steven explained that in the case of Esa’ala, the DDA approved it and it was captured in their budget.
“Our people already know the problems in Alotau being unable to open bank accounts without NID cards so we just want to see our people registered,” he said.
Mobiha said they were having difficulties with districts. “We sign MoUs with them and they expire without any money movement,” he said.