Have you received your Biometrics ID Card?

A random survey has shown that many people are yet to have their Biometric ID cards. The reason given by many is that they have to stand in a queue for the whole day before they get cards and the employers just cannot tolerate the absence from work for a good part of the day. What is however evident is that there are many people who want to have the card but are not shown the easy way to go about getting it. This is precisely the reason Why Foroyaa has been asking interested parties to participate in giving suggestions on how to speed up the process of getting ID Cards.

Our inquiries reveal that the IEC is likely to introduce Biometrics Voter’s card for each voter. Biometrics Driver’s Licence has already been introduced. Biometrics Passports are to follow. There are fashionable talks about The Gambia being transformed into a silicon valley. This amounts to mere building of castles in the air unless we have Gambian public enterprises, Private companies or Public /Private Partnerships that are willing to invest in the service sector. Before we talk about assembling and exporting computers we should think about developing expertise in meeting day to day needs such as the provision of ID Cards, Licences, phone Cards and so on and so forth.

Four things are needed for the efficient and effective provision of services. There must be adequate funding, appropriate Technology, Professional staff, Proper Administrative and Management structures and the participation of the people.

Those who are responsible for the issuing of ID Cards should understand the cost associated with long delays in recovering investments made in the delivery of services. It goes without saying that the quicker investments are recovered the greater the opportunity to reinvest in improving on the use of technology, training of staff and hiring more professionals for improving on service delivery.

Many people have raised doubts why the Company responsible for the Technical aspect of providing 1D Card and the Immigration department could not establish special days and times for offices both in the government and non-governmental sectors in order to speed up the process of issuing ID Cards. Foroyaa will interview them to know what measures they are taking to speed up the process.