Prime Minister Andrew Holness has announced that Jamaicans seeking Government assistance to recover from Hurricane Melissa must register under the National Identification System (NIDS).
The announcement was made at a special press briefing on October 27, on the eve of the first anniversary of Hurricane Melissa, the Category Five storm which devastated western Jamaica last year, leaving homes destroyed, livelihoods shattered and communities struggling to recover.
The Prime Minister said registration under NIDS would be indispensable for persons seeking recovery grants and other forms of Government assistance, including financial help to restore damaged roofs.
The decision has raised questions about the Government’s insistence upon registration for a system which has been presented as voluntary, particularly when the assistance in question is funded by the taxes paid by Jamaican citizens.
Church groups have previously warned that the authorities would seek to introduce NIDS into the country’s affairs by making it a condition for accessing essential services and benefits. Dr. Holness’s latest announcement is likely to strengthen those concerns.
At the press briefing, the Prime Minister argued that difficulties in identifying and verifying beneficiaries had hampered both the initial relief operation and the subsequent recovery effort.
He explained that the Government had adopted a humanitarian approach during the first phase of the response, distributing assistance without requiring recipients to establish their identities in every instance.
“We didn’t ask who you are and how many children you have and is this your house?” he said, describing how relief had been distributed on humanitarian grounds.
But Dr. Holness contended that the Government had subsequently faced criticism over its inability to account fully for the distribution of relief supplies, arguing that the recovery phase required a different approach.
“In the recovery phase, accountability supersedes the humanitarian effort,” he declared.
The Prime Minister said the authorities needed to establish who was receiving grants and who owned the properties for which public money was being provided to restore roofs.
He maintained that presenting an ordinary photographic identification card was no longer sufficient, since the authorities needed to verify that the same person was not claiming assistance at several locations.
Dr. Holness acknowledged what he described as a general shortcoming in Jamaica’s administrative arrangements: the absence of a uniquely identified database covering all Jamaicans.
He argued that the lack of such a system meant that the authorities had to undertake repeated identification and verification exercises whenever a disaster occurred, adding to delays and bureaucratic difficulties.
It was for this reason, he said, that the Government had invested in NIDS.
“Everyone who is seeking to get a benefit through the recovery process, whether it is the grants or whatever it is, you must go and register under the national identification system,” the Prime Minister announced.
“It is indispensable. It is for your interest,” he said.
