ID cards back in the limelight

WHEN then prime minister Paias Wingti wanted to introduce an ID card for Papua New Guinea in 1992, there was a huge hue and cry over it.
One prominent citizen, now deceased, said the idea was a throwback to the dark ages and described it as “draconian and dictatorial”.
Today, Peter O’Neill’s cabinet has revisited the idea and is seeking technical and professional assistance from the government of India.
The National Executive Council has approved a project to seek technical and professional help from the government of India’s office of unique identification (UID) authority.
This includes sourcing of funds for the establishment of the UID authority of Papua New Guinea, as well as to implement the UID project, including the buying of software and technical architecture, training and capacity building of technical personnel.
Prime Minister O’Neill has directed the ministers of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Justice and Attorney-General to draw up a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the governments of PNG and India as soon as possible to enable India to avail the services of technical and professional personnel to help establish the UID authority of PNG and to implement the UID project.
O’Neill said this process would cut incidences of ghost names on the common roll, as well as double voting and other fraudulent activities during general election.
“I discussed the matter with the High Commissioner of India to Papua New Guinea, Dr Ajay Gondane, about the possibility of seeking assistance from the government of India, which is issuing identification cards to its nationals,” O’Neill said.
He said the Indian government, through the UIDAI, had responded favourably and would undertake this project to process and issue cards to all Papua New Guinean citizens before the general election later this year.
The UIDAI is willing to dispatch its officials to PNG to brief and make presentations to cabinet, as well as to interact with officials on how the project can be implemented and advanced.
This newspaper lends its support to the project. It would have been so much better had it been introduced in 1992. A lot of issues running today might have been a little different had this system been introduced.
But it is here now and it behoves all to understand its import and to assist its preparation and implementation with minimum delay.
We do not think for one minute that it is feasible to have a national ID card system for use later this year in the national general elections. With the best will in the world and even if there was sufficient resources, this would be impossibility.
An ID system is a must for this country. In order to plan for the needs of every individual in the country, the government and all its agencies must know exactly where its citizens are.
There are different reasons for introducing ID systems in different countries. Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and India have been successfully operating ID systems.
The Indian ID system, which PNG hopes to use as a model, was developed basically to account for the
poorest among its population.
The national identity system is linked to a payment processing platform.
Elsewhere, the ID system is used as a security device to control undesirables.
So, the first thing PNG has to decide is: What are the uses for an ID system? That has to be weighed against civil liberties such as freedom of movement and freedom from harassment by authorities such as police.
To our mind, an ID system ought to be linked to ensuring there is accountability.
If you can account for the whereabouts of everybody you can cater for the needs of those persons.
Can the government today account for everybody that it tries to provide for through the budget? The answer is negative.
Up to now, the government has been operating on guess work when drawing up its annual money plans.
The new Hela province might have 350,000 people, for instance, but it is a fair bet that more than 50,000 are scattered throughout the country.
They boost the population of other areas like Port Moresby, but, who is to know unless we had something like ID cards?
Such cards should also be accepted at places like banks and for travel purposes.