Government starts rolling out new multi-purpose ID

A new multi-purpose ID (MP-ID) is expected to bring the region closer together and make the lives of Vincentians easier.

So said Minister of economic Planning, Sustain-able Development, Indus-try, Trade, Information and Labour Camillo Gonsalves at last Friday’s launch of the new identification card.{{more}}

Gonsalves stated that the World Bank funded programme, which has already been rolled out in other Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) countries, would allow each citizen to have a unique identification number.

“The number that you get…will follow you around as you work and live and the data about you will grow,” he explained.

The minister disclosed that it had been the Government’s plan to implement the card for some time; however, because of the political climate they chose not to do so.

“…we had elections and we didn’t want people to get confused between the MP-ID, which is the ID for every Vincentian, no matter how old they are and the voter’s ID, because the ID card that they have now is the voter’s ID…and you could only imagine if in the middle of an election campaign we started giving different IDs to different people,” Gonsalves stated.

“We decided to wait until the entire campaign process… was over; so that we could begin rolling out, not a voter’s ID, but an identification card that every Vincentian can get; a unique number that each one of you will have for your entire life.”

He noted that the card would make travel within the region easier, since one’s information would be more readily accessible.

“The governments will be able to interact more closely; you will have ease in getting loans, going to the bank…and you will have a single ID that will not only be recognized throughout the region, but hopefully internationally, that you will be able to travel on and do business on and be accepted as a definitive ID.”

Students from some secondary schools were among the first Vincentians to be registered for the new MP-ID last Friday.(CM)