New ID cards will carry security features not visible to the naked eye

Apr 16, 2009 Letters

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Dear Editor,
I respond to a letter titled “What will the new ID card have that will make it superior to the existing ID card”, which was published in the Guyana Times of Sunday, April 5, 2009 in the name of Clement Bacchus.
Firstly, Mr. Bacchus, by his own admission, welcomes the opportunity to get a new ID card, since the one he is currently in possession of is old and worn out and always causes a stir whenever he presents it for a transaction. Thereafter, he proffers the following questions:-

1. What can I use this new ID card for? I have had some difficulties before with the current ID card. This included non-acceptance by GECOM itself when it was doing its house-to-house registration last year.
2. What will the new ID card have that is different from the current ID card that will make it so unique?
3. Will the information contained on it be the same as the current ID card or will it be different? I hope that it’s different, because if it turns out that the only difference between the old ID card and the new ID card is the colour and design, then GECOM must be jesting. Colours and designs do not determine a person’s identification, but pictures and personal information do.
4. When the new card comes out, I will be looking for any difference and if there is found to be none, I need an explanation as to why the current ID card was refused before.

Our response follows:
National Identification Cards are required for the following:-
Applying for a driver’s licence
Applying for a Passport
Applying for a Loan
Applying for a Police Clearance Certificate
Applying for a Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN)
Carrying out Bank Transactions
Carrying out Post Office Transactions
Arranging Hire Purchase Transactions
Carrying out transactions associated with the National Insurance Scheme (NIS)
Carrying out transactions specifically related with Old Age Pensions
Identifying the holder for the purpose of voting at elections.

The decision not to accept existing national identification (ID) cards as source documents in the 2008 House-to-House registration exercise was taken as a matter of policy. This decision took into consideration that, during previous (pre-2001) registration exercises, some persons had been registered on the basis of having provided Baptismal Certificates, letters from priests, elders, headmasters, Village Captains/Toshaos and Justices of the Peace, thus becoming registered in the National Register of Registrants (NRR) and would have been issued ID cards.

This methodology had resulted in concerns raised, not lastly by political parties, about the accuracy of the database used for the commencement of continuous registration in 2005. In cognizance of the concerns raised about the purity of the database used for the production of the 2006 Official List of Electors, and recognising the need to guarantee the integrity of the new database being created from the 2008 House-to-House Registration exercise, GECOM in its collective wisdom took the decision not to accept existing ID cards, among other specified documentation, as base documents for registration.
This sought to ensure that only persons who met the established criteria would become registered in the new NRR and give unquestionable credibility to any voters’ list to be produced there from. This policy found no dissatisfaction by any stakeholder.

The new ID card will carry new security features which will not be visible to the naked eye. Currently, ID cards exist with three different designs, .i.e. the old red one, the green one with black and white photographs, and the green one with coloured photographs.
The intention is to issue new ID cards of a standard design to every registrant and thereafter to decommission the existing ones.
The information on the card will be based on the registration record of the registrant as taken from the source document presented to GECOM for the purpose of registration.
The information on the new ID card will also be different from that on the existing card, if the registrant changed his/her name by marriage or Deed Poll.

Mr. Bacchus acknowledges that pictures identify a person. He should also recognise that people’s facial features change with age. This in itself brings out the need for a registrant to renew his/her photo ID.
By the time GECOM issues new ID cards with current photographs, nine years would have elapsed since the registration exercise, which was conducted in preparation for the 2001 elections, bring into being the green one with black and white photographs.
The physiognomy would have changed appreciably over those years.
The green ID cards with black and white photographs were issued prior to the 2001 elections.
Bacchus’ non-inclusion in the 2001 database means that he is not in possession of a green ID card with black and white photograph.

If the ID card that Mr. Bacchus currently holds is of the old red design, which would have been produced about 12 years ago at least, he more than anyone should be happy to get a new ID card containing important security elements and a genuine reflection of his current facial features.
Having said the above, it is important to point out that no one by the name of Clement Bacchus is registered in the database of registrants which was used in preparation for the 2001 elections.
Nor does he exist in the database of registrants which was used in preparation for the 2006 elections.
Further, this “Mr. Bacchus” was not captured by the latest House-to-House Registration exercise.
Lastly, one Clement Bacchus was registered during the 2008 house-to-house registration exercise. We have confirmed that he did not write the above referenced letter.
Vishnu Persaud
Public Relations Officer, GECOM

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