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toubab1020
12314 Posts |
 Posted - 18 Aug 2009 : 11:49:23
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This from the D.O.
http://observer.gm/africa/gambia/article/new-biometric-card-scheme-starts
FULL TEXT.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
The department of Immigration has revealed that the new Biometric Card scheme launched earlier, has now replaced the current national identity card in circulation.
According to a press release issued yesterday, the department of Immigration urged all national identity card applicants to go to the Immigration Head Office, Banjul to obtain the new national identity card.
Applicants according to the release are advised to go along with two hundred dalasis (D200.00) as the cost for the identity card, and are also urged not to bring along any passport size photos, as they are inclusive. The Gambia Immigration Department therefore solicits the support and cooperation of the general public towards this national endeavour, the release concluded
In the "off season" I doubt if many normal people have D200
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"Simple is good" & I strongly dislike politics. You cannot defend the indefensible.
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Momodou
Denmark
11828 Posts |
Posted - 18 Aug 2009 : 12:07:15
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I have seen this new ID card and it has a time limit of 5 years, so its going to be a real cash machine for the Government.
Just do the math: D200,00 multplied by 1 million Gambians every five years. |
A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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toubab1020
12314 Posts |
Posted - 18 Aug 2009 : 12:11:39
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Yep.The Gambian Government has had some lessons from our great leader Gordon Brown.........Make them pay,tax them until it hurts. A thought has just crossed my mind,H.E. said that all people from Guine Bissau didn't have to have an alien card,do you think they will then be called Honary Gambians and have to have an ID card at D200? |
"Simple is good" & I strongly dislike politics. You cannot defend the indefensible.
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Edited by - toubab1020 on 18 Aug 2009 12:14:58 |
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Momodou
Denmark
11828 Posts |
Posted - 18 Aug 2009 : 13:07:17
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See the FOROYAA Online - CITIZENSHIP, ID CARDS AND VOTERS CARDS
Snippet:
The problem with the Gambia is that after 39 years of Republican existence we are yet to have a modern system of determining National Identity. The current lapses in standardizing the determination of qualification for citizenship and acquisition of National Identity documents create a lot of difficulty for electoral and immigration officers in issuing voters’ cards and National Identity Cards, respectively. There is need for a conference of stakeholders, jointly convened by the IEC and the Ministry of interior to look at the problems associated with the proper determination of who is qualified to be issued with voters’ card and National I D Cards.
In many countries in the world proper system of recording birth and death has been instituted. Citizenship is linked directly to birth. Consequently, at birth one is given a birth certificate with a number which is unique to the person. Computerisation has made it very easy to maintain this data. Hence once a person could produce an authentic birth certificate and one is not the child of a diplomat in a country one could get a National ID Card, Passport and voter’s Card. No bureaucracy is created where the person has to go to a village head, a chief of a district, a national assembly member, a notary public or another prominent person approved by law, for attestation before one could get a National Identity document.........
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A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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toubab1020
12314 Posts |
Posted - 18 Aug 2009 : 13:16:20
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Seems a well reasoned arguement,the English phrase "you have to walk before you can run", springs to mind,in other words you cannot jump straight into things before taking the basic steps.
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"Simple is good" & I strongly dislike politics. You cannot defend the indefensible.
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Prince
507 Posts |
Posted - 18 Aug 2009 : 13:33:21
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quote:
In the "off season" I doubt if many normal people have D200
You are right Toubab, at D200, the queue for their "modern biometric IDs" won't be long.
Can someone please tell me how people living in the provinces can obtain the new ID?
Also, what exactly constitute "biometric information," are they going into finger prints, retina scans or even DNA collection? Who would have access to people's biometric information, and what can the information be used for? Can a persons biometric information be (admissible) used to prosecute them?
Finally, what penalty will I pay if I hack into their system to collect and possibly sell 1 million biometric information  |
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Momodou
Denmark
11828 Posts |
Posted - 18 Aug 2009 : 13:44:46
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Prince, the ID card has a finger print. I asked the person whom I saw the ID card with if his finger print was taken and he answered in the negative. This made me believe that it was taken without his knowledge because the card was showing a finger print. The Immigration control has finger print scanners at the Airport but I did not see them being used. However, I know someone whoes finger print was taken during departure last April. That was perhaps the testing phase.
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A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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faderabraham
203 Posts |
Posted - 18 Aug 2009 : 15:04:27
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| so what do we have to have has non natives, living in gambia i currently have a residents permit and an aliens pass |
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toubab1020
12314 Posts |
Posted - 18 Aug 2009 : 15:23:05
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My thumb print was taken last year at the airport,I expect that you can make a digital picture of the thumprint which you could then print onto the card,the process was simply place your right thumb onto the small scanner that then collects the information and stores it its easier wth foreigners because they have a passport that can be checked and verified. |
"Simple is good" & I strongly dislike politics. You cannot defend the indefensible.
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faderabraham
203 Posts |
Posted - 18 Aug 2009 : 15:35:58
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thankyou ebrima,
guess i will find out in november
cheers |
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kondorong
Gambia
4380 Posts |
Posted - 18 Aug 2009 : 17:00:43
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Until citizenship is based on birth and not heritage, you cannot have an effective ID system. A birth certificate isnot a proof of Gambian Citizenship. So you cannot use a birth certificate to make IDs or used the bio for babises as basis of citizenship.
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“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it--always.” |
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faderabraham
203 Posts |
Posted - 18 Aug 2009 : 17:48:16
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hi kondorong,
wonder what system would you think would work for citizens and aliens.. ie visitors living in the gambia....and for born gambians becouse i see over 25 years living in gambia and visiting many foriegn persons there from all over the world of all nationality
25 years ago it seems they wasent as many foregn people
maybe you can correct me |
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toubab1020
12314 Posts |
Posted - 18 Aug 2009 : 18:01:35
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quote:
Originally posted by faderabraham
thankyou ebrima,
guess i will find out in november
cheers
This was when I left Gambia not arrived, |
"Simple is good" & I strongly dislike politics. You cannot defend the indefensible.
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faderabraham
203 Posts |
Posted - 18 Aug 2009 : 18:36:28
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ok cheers
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Prince
507 Posts |
Posted - 18 Aug 2009 : 22:29:35
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quote:
Originally posted by Momodou
Prince, the ID card has a finger print. I asked the person whom I saw the ID card with if his finger print was taken and he answered in the negative. This made me believe that it was taken without his knowledge because the card was showing a finger print. The Immigration control has finger print scanners at the Airport but I did not see them being used. However, I know someone whoes finger print was taken during departure last April. That was perhaps the testing phase.
Thanks Momodou, the airport finger scanning has nothing to do with the new IDs. Mr. Jammeh introduced that in response to what he perceived as western governments (the US in particular) active pursuit of humiliating of his functionaries.
He did not like the idea of his officials being subjected to finger scans, and on some occasions, refused visas. This made him to take the retaliatory approach of finger-scanning foreigners.
Do you know where folks from the rural areas can obtain a biometric ID?
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Until citizenship is based on birth and not heritage, you cannot have an effective ID system. A birth certificate isnot a proof of Gambian Citizenship. So you cannot use a birth certificate to make IDs or used the bio for babises as basis of citizenship.
You are right Kons, there is no clearly defined path to citizenship in the Gambia. I have a bad feeling that this is a Ivory Coast like ticking bomb waiting to explode. The Gambia is nurturing a growing class of disenfranchised people living amongst our mist . Cross my fingers, i'm just being my usual paranoid self.
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kondorong
Gambia
4380 Posts |
Posted - 19 Aug 2009 : 01:48:40
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I have always believed that the best person for citizenship is the one born in the country. Today, children born to gambians living in Australia have more rights than children born in the Gambia but to parents who are not Gambians.
A new class of second class citizens is growing in large numbers and it is a matter of time before we have our plates full. Its behoves on those chraged with the responsibility to do something now before it turns into a natioanl problem. What do you do with one million second class Gambians? Deport them to where? These chilren don not know any other country but Gambia and to ask them to leave to the land of their parents where chances are that they will not become citizens is impossible. Secondly, under international law, the only country that is obliged to accept them will be Gambia. So why delay. Citizenship to all those born in the Gambia is the solutiuon.
We should not create another Ivory Coast.
It was a legacy of the colonial system and should have been changed long timne ago. |
“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it--always.” |
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