Public trust is necessary for any stable society to function. Without it, the social contract between the government and the citizens disintegrates, leading to wide-ranging domestic consequences.
When a population loses trust in its government, there is a breakdown of institutional legitimacy, severe social fragmentation, and systemic operational gridlock.
Distrust between the Jamaican government and the people runs deep, and the deplorable state of the society is testament to this.
The average Jamaican knows that their cash-strapped government is steeped in corruption and possesses no moral bearing. They know that the government will use people, reputable agencies and monies placed in its custody to do as it pleases.
So, Jamaicans were not entirely shocked that this government found reasons to withhold monies which were donated to assist residents who were ravaged by Hurricane Melissa last October.
It is a well-known fact that the deception that has dogged the political class over many years has spilt over, corrupting usually reputable agencies. So, when the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM), told the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament that the website used to collect funds donated to assist hurricane victims was not state-owned, we should have expected this.
It is hard to believe anything that the government or its agents say. So, ODPEM’s hastily contrived statement to assure the public that private eyes did not have access to the donor data collected on this portal rings hollow. Furthermore, there is little assurance that the J$1.4 billion in donations was shielded from excessive transaction and banking charges.
With all the chicaneries over decades, Jamaicans should have expected the government to sign the Samoa Agreement with its unrighteous clauses despite clear objections from the people.
So deep is the distrust and deception, that this government established the Integrity Commission, with the constitutional mandate to fight corruption among state operatives, but this same government is now chastising the Commission for doing so.
It is under this dark cloud of distrust that this government is seeking to assure the Jamaican people that it will do justly with their biometric data it hopes to collect and manage through the global commercial network, the National Identification System (NIDS).
The average Jamaican does not understand that by handing their personal data over for NIDS, they will be signing into a global network, controlled by others with heavy commercial interests.
This government has always tried to get the church complicit in its deception. It did this during the COVID plandemic and through the implementation of the Restorative Justice Programme, and it is seeking to do it again through NIDS.
Recently, head of the Umbrella Group of Churches, Bishop Dr Roy Notice was asked his opinion about NIDS in a newspaper report. Bishop Notice danced stealthily around the issue, but eventually he was caught flatfooted and tumbled head-first into the government deception trap.
Bishop Notice stated that many Jamaicans already routinely entrust sensitive personal information to banks, tax authorities, healthcare providers, telecommunications companies and countless online services. He suggested that giving biometric data to the government under NIDS would be similar.
It appeared that Bishop Notice does not know that the United Nations, the main operative behind NIDS, places the ownership of personal data squarely into the hand of governments. Banks, on the other hand, act only as custodians or data processors, meaning they are legally obligated to protect your information and may only use it for the authorised purpose of verifying your identity.
Banks in Jamaica do not mandate biometric data (like fingerprints or facial scans) for standard in-person banking. However, institutions require physical signatures and photographic IDs.
Former General Manager, Caribbean Country Department, Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Therese Turner-Jones explained in 2017 at the launch of the NIDS that the system will lay the foundation for Jamaica to become a digital economy.
According to the United Nations (UN) terms of reference, the digital economy is the global network of economic activities, commercial transactions, and professional interactions enabled by information and communications technologies (ICT). It encompasses e-commerce, digital supply chains, and the underlying data infrastructure that drives modern global trade.
The UN is the international driving force for universal digital IDs. This initiative falls under the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 16.9), which aims to provide legal identity for all by 2030 to prevent social and economic exclusion.
This deceptive government has not told the people of Jamaica that NIDS is the embodiment of the UN’s ID2020 programme in Jamaica. Neither has it explained that under UN policy, individuals may hold the fundamental right to privacy regarding their personal information, but the legal ownership of biometric data belongs to their untrustworthy government.
Based on the UN rule of data ownership, the corrupt government of Jamaica will have full control over people and their financial, medical and professional information, in a digital format, to do as it pleases.
Jamaicans must pay close attention to cash-starved African states where governments have been giving the United States access to medical data in exchange for funding under the America First initiative.
Jamaicans must not be surprised if we find ourselves in this exact position where corrupt politicians sell access to our private information for a fist-full of dollars.
If uninformed church leaders continue to speak on issues they do not understand, they are no different from the politicians who seek to deceive. More seriously, they have become partners of the beast, the one-world order and agents of hell, who are on a relentless mission to steal, kill and destroy. Take notice.