State must provide better leadership

 By Dr Thomas Webster

THE Government had initiated an “Identity Card” project in 2013 that is continuing on in 2014, with a total appropriation of K200 million, that we hoped would help resolve our population information needs. 

However, infighting among government agencies and weak coordination stemming from a poor understanding of its purpose and objectives is leading to a situation where this project is likely to fail and Papua New Guinea not getting the full value of this key investment.

The term ID card is misleading, with many government agencies confused over who will be responsible and what it is going to be used for. 

Adding to this confusion, was the move by one of the national ministers responsible for implementing the programme through the department she was responsible for, “piloting” an electronic ID project in her electorate, while the National Statistical Office (NSO) is putting out advertisements to recruit personnel to start rolling out the national project. Meanwhile, the PNG Electoral Commission, one of the original intended beneficiaries, has come out with a media statement last week stating that they are now going to proceed with their own limited electronic ID electoral roll project. 

Huawei Technologies of China is providing the technical input to the National Government ID project. 

What is required is the guidance from the National Government on how the database is going to be created, who and how the database will be managed, and how potential users will access and use the database. 

Huawei can then build a system suited to the needs of our specific information management system. This article presents the case for leadership and a more coordinated approach from the Government. 

Project poorly 

conceptualised

It is evident that the project was poorly conceptualised from the outset. There was limited planning and discussion around the objectives of this project, who were the key implementers of the project, and how would different users access and utilise the data. 

Following the 2012 national elections, where problems with the electoral common roll were most evident, there was a general desire to have an identification system to reduce the problems of a poorly managed common roll. 

It seems PNG was sold a solution with the loan funding but the relevant agencies never got around to thinking how it would be best implemented and used. 

Almost a year on, things have not improved. 

It was well intended, a much needed project that can save the Government billions of kina and improve management of elections as well as improving the management of basic service delivery systems. 

Rather than limiting it to an electronic ID project, it can be better focused on establishing a population database that can be drawn upon by many government agencies. 

This article shares some thoughts on how the project could be better structured, synchronising with other existing database systems and links to key users. The article further outlines why it is important that we manage it right. 

Creation of a unique 

identity system

First is the creation of the identification system, giving a unique ID number to an individual. The PNG Civil Registry Office already has the responsibility for maintaining a register of births and deaths. 

The registration of birth process gives the person a unique ID number and creates a database showing genealogical information of the parents and grandparents, both paternal and maternal. 

It registers additional information linking the individual to a clan group, council ward, and district.  

Every citizen would have a unique ID number that could then be used at later points of one’s lifetime for reference in issuance of ID cards such as the common roll, passports and bank accounts, among others. 

The Department of Community Development, that houses the Civil Registry Office, has links to provincial offices that now provide some limited support services. 

Every district has a community development officer and this programme should extend and involve these government mechanisms to take responsibility for inputs, recording births, marriages and deaths in liaison with ward councillors and ward recorders. 

Initially, there may be a national exercise mounted to have everyone registered. Once done, this database is maintained and updated by Civil Registry recording births, marriages and deaths as they occur. 

Management of the database for different users 

THE National Statistical Office (NSO) should be allowed to have access to population specific data from the Civil Registry database so that the NSO can provide specific data for different users. The capabilities of the NSO would need to be strengthened to provide that critical service. 

Key users of the database

THIS database will be used to meet the crucial needs of many government agencies faced with inadequate information. It will reduce the huge costs amounting to billions of kina expended to compile key information needs. Some key ones are outlined below. 

n General population data for NSO: The database could provide up-to-date population statistics by LLG ward, district and province. There may not be a need to have the 10-year national population census cycle costing more than half a billion kina. Information normally obtained from the census can be obtained from other sources as a result of the database and from specific sector surveys;  

n Information on health and education status of a LLG ward, district and province: Once a birth has been registered, a person can be identified and tracked through the government basic service provision, especially by the Health Department and the national education system. The database can be used to inform how many children are not receiving vaccinations, and from which LLG and district so that more targeted interventions can be conducted. The death register could reveal major causes of death so that these could be addressed. It can inform how many school-aged children (age 6) have not enrolled in school, how many have dropped out before completion and other such data that can then allow for more specific intervention programmes in targeted LLGs and districts. 

The Education Department has engaged in a number of different surveys to collect data about age specific school enrolments spending millions of kina in the process but has yet to collate accurate enrolment data. 

While we can claim that over a million children are in school, we do not really know the actual ages of those children and more importantly how many school-aged children are not in school. 

n Electoral common roll: Once a person has reached 18 years of age, that person can then have a photograph ID along with the unique ID system given under the civil registry system and put on the common roll for election purposes. Other unique biometric identifiers could be used such as fingerprints. Once crossed as having voted, that person would not be allowed to vote again. 

The compilation of the common roll happens every five years in preparation for the national elections costing well over a K100 million. This can be reduced dramatically if an accurate civil registry database is used to enrol only those turning 18 and removing those who have been recorded as having died. Even, if people migrate, they can enrol in the new electorate while their names are taken off the other electorate that they had previously enrolled by using the unique Civil Registry ID number. 

The ID photo enables one to do other things like banking and can be even issued before reaching this age for school ID purposes. There is really no need for everyone to have an ID photo or any other biometric ID system before the age of 18; 

n Incorporated Land Groups (ILG) registration: The new provisions of the ILG Amended Act of 1974 introduced under the land reform programme for voluntary registration of customary land makes it mandatory for the ILG members to be registered under the civil registry system. This process allows for a person to be a registered member of a land owning unit, an ILG, and through the sketch map that is required as part of the registration process, over a piece of land that the ILG claims ownership. This process ensures that ILGs are incorporated by real people and not paper-based ILGs formed in hotels for resource dividend distribution purposes. 

Over time, perhaps 10 to 20 years’, every person would be linked to an ILG and through the ILG to a piece of land. In this process, most areas of used land would be registered to ILGs. When a mining activity or any other form of resource extraction industry evolves in an area, the land owning groups would already be known. Identification studies such as genealogical/social mapping studies as are commonly known, costing millions of kina, will not be necessary. 

Importance of accurate population data 

IN the PNG development discourse, we talk about PNG making progress yet there is limited information available to benchmark PNG’s development progress. 

National economic growth indicators such as GDP growth and national budget expenditures are easy to come by and used frequently. 

Yet, it is difficult to get adequate indicators of what this economic benefit is doing to people and whether there are improvements in their quality of life, in education, in health and so forth. 

Unfortunately, accurate data about the well-being of people is missing. We know the numbers of children in school but there is limited data on how many are out of school. We know how many children are getting vaccinated, preventing them from catching various types of diseases but we do not know how many are not. 

We have limited information about which parts of the country are missing out on these essential services. Such information is critical to develop effective intervention programmes and to monitor progress. We have limited information on where PNG stands in terms of Millennium Development Goal indicators. Our data collection and analysis systems have been weakened over time. PNG probably stands at the bottom of the table of comparisons showing where each country stands, embarrassingly on the same levels as war ravaged Sudan and Mali, when PNG really has no excuse. 

We now have an opportunity to make some amends to at least improve the basic population information systems to better inform us of current status, monitor progress and to re-direct intervention measures as needed to have impact. 

Yet, petty bureaucratic politics could result in PNG not getting maximum benefit from this important Government project. It is therefore incumbent on the Government to provide the leadership required to successfully implement an important nation-building project. 

• Dr Thomas Webster is the director of the National Research Institute.