By: Lamin B. Darboe
The Ministries of Health (MoI) and the Interior on Friday, March 22nd signed an MoU at the Ministry of Public Service, Administrative Reforms, Policy Coordination and Delivery’s conference room in Banjul.
The objective of the MoU is to harmonise and integrate the National Identity System, operated by the Department of Immigration and the Electronic Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (eCRVS) System through the Registry of Births and Deaths.
The move is expected to provide a framework to ensure a unified National Identity Number (NIN) generation and sharing between the two systems in order to avoid duplication, and to provide a strong database to allow for a continuous update and use by the Parties.
It will also allow for the proper issuance of national identity cards, passports, residential permits, and drivers’ licences, limit the unscrupulous acquisition of such documents, and to provide a framework for the Parties to promote and enhance cooperation in the harmonisation and integration of the National Identity System, Electronic Civil Registration and Vital Statistics System.
According to the obligation of the eCRVS, the Ministry of Interior (MoI) shall provide data on ID cards that have been issued with the following variables: NIN, first name, last name, and date of birth and birth certificate QR code to enable the National ID system authenticate the birth certificates presented by ID card applicants.
The said Ministry is to initially provide to MoH, in a comma Separated Value file (csv), data on ID cards that have been issued with the following variables: NIN, Last Name, First Name, and date of Birth. This will allow MoH to reduplicate NINs in the eCRVS i.e., enable clean-up of the eCRVS system of duplicate NINs.
On the other hand the Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy (MoCDE) is to oversee the development and maintenance of the necessary Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure, including facilitating the integration, establishing and maintaining standards and robust security measures to protect the confidentiality and integrity.
The Permanent Secretary, Department of Strategic Policy and Delivery (DSPD), Alieu Loum, welcomed the officials at the occasion, while the signing ceremony was witnessed by the officials from the GID, MoPS, Health, MoCDE and GICTA.
