Legislation will be in place to ensure privacy of data in E-ID system – AG

Dec 04, 2025 News

---

…says current info obtained already public

(Kaieteur News) – Attorney General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall has assured citizens that there will be legislation in place to ensure that whatever data is required and provided for the E-ID system remains private.

On Tuesday night’s episode of his weekly programme “Issues in the News” he said that it was already explained that the legislation governing that data and the card are not yet in place.  Nevertheless, the persons who are participating in the preliminary roll out are doing it on a voluntary basis and the information they are provided is already in the public information system, he said. “So, data such as name, addresses, ID card numbers, national ID card numbers, passport numbers, TIN, photograph, driver’s license numbers, marriage certificates, birth certificates are all information that are already in the public information system of this country,” the AG explained.

He highlighted that, persons can go to the public agencies and obtain this type of information, as it is neither peculiar, private or of a financial or medical nature.  “Once all the processes are in place and the personnel are in place and the mechanism to administer the full implementation of the legislation are in place. Then the legislation will be brought into force and these processes will be unfolded in accordance with the law and then it becomes obligatory on every citizen to become part of the process against that backdrop,” Nandlall assured.

He noted that he has seen the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and other commentators expressing fear on how the data is being obtained and the type of data.

After dismissing the fears as being “unfounded, without basis, and polluted by politics,” he further stated that “…this fear that the government is accumulating data and will misuse the data and will manipulate the data for ulterior design and purposes is one that is without basis and unfounded. The government has access to this information anyhow through the various state agencies.”

Nandlall reaffirmed that when the process truly begins whatever data is obtained from citizens, especially “the type of information that are deeply personal…that laws, data protection laws are passed to protect.”

On November 26 this publication reported that A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) is sounding the alarm over what it calls the government’s reckless and unlawful rollout of the new Digital ID system, warning that thousands of Guyanese are already being registered without the legal protections Parliament intended. In a statement issued by APNU Member of Parliament, Sherod Duncan, the party said it is “deeply concerned” by Prime Minister Mark Phillips’ admission that the administration has already begun issuing Digital ID cards even though two crucial pieces of legislation remain inactive: the Digital Identity Card Act, and the Data Protection Act.

Duncan said while APNU supports modernisation and digital transformation, no responsible government should collect biometric data without the legal safeguards meant to prevent abuse. “A major red flag Guyanese cannot afford to ignore.” According to Duncan, the government is now gathering and storing sensitive biometric information from public servants “without the full force of the law, without oversight, and without the firewalls Parliament intended.”

Duncan said this issue does not stand alone. “In recent weeks, APNU has already raised alarms about the Government’s misuse of citizen data, its refusal to operationalise the Data Protection Act, its mishandling of election-related communications in Parliamentary Questions already tabled on the integrity of the Digital Identity ecosystem. Today’s development expands and intensifies those concerns.” The APNU MP said, senior members of the Government, including the Vice President, have publicly announced that the Digital ID will soon be mandatory for accessing government services, securing employment, opening and maintaining bank accounts, remitting money, and potentially for migrant registration and regularisation. Public servants form the first wave. The rest of the population will follow, under a regime that still lacks any active statutory protections.

“These developments raise unavoidable questions: Why is the rollout happening before the laws take effect? Why build the system now, but activate the protections later? Guyana is witnessing the rapid assembly of what experts describe as a “single spine of traceable identity,” linking employment records, banking information, cash-grant delivery, healthcare data, migration status, telecommunications metadata, and even inputs from the expanding national camera network. This unified identity infrastructure is being built without the legal architecture required to safeguard rights, prevent profiling, or ensure accountability,” the APNU MP said.

He added that this concern becomes even more serious when placed in the wider context. “The same administration rushing ahead with this biometric ecosystem has previously misused citizens’ personal data during election campaigns, required bank accounts for cash-grant programmes, creating indirect financial surveillance, and refused to operationalise the Data Protection Act.

---

• Anil Nandlall, Data, Digital ID, E-ID, privacy

---