Jamaica has been discussing the introduction of identity cards since the 1970s, but has made limited progress.
The main culprit behind this is the lack of public trust in the project and the government’s failure to bridge that gap, according to a new analysis from civic tech non-profit, SlashRoots Foundation. Jamaica officially rolled out its national ID card in November last year.
But despite efforts to introduce a unified identification method, the Caribbean Island state still relies on a patchwork of identification documents, including passports, voter IDs and drivers’ licenses. An estimated 10 percent of Jamaican adults have no formal identification.
“Without public trust, digital transformation efforts will struggle to achieve the population-scale adoption that the governments and private actors pursuing them desire,” the Kingston-based group says in a blog post published last week.
In 2017, the government of Prime Minister Andrew Holness passed the National Identification and Registration Act (NIRA), rushing to meet deadlines for funding from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). The legislation, however, was met with public criticism related to mandatory enrolment, lack of independent oversight and extensive data collection, followed by a wave of online disinformation.
The Act was finally declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Jamaica because of mandatory enrolment into the ID scheme. The government put forward a revised NIRA in 2020, inviting the public to submit comments.
While the NIRA bill has gone through important amendments, concerns have remained about requiring the national identity card to become a requirement for accessing services, fuelling fears and misinformation on social media. In the second half of 2024, the Jamaican government initiated public testing through voluntary pilots.
The National Identification Registration Authority (NIRA) pilot involved 300 Jamaicans, with the SlashRoots Foundation believing that engagements like this will be crucial for the project. “Building confidence and securing the adoption of a new digital ID in this environment will require intentional trust-building – not as a one-off exercise, but a continuous process,” says the group.
The government is currently developing the Jamaica Data Exchange Platform which will streamline government data validation for the tax registration number (TRN), driver’s license and the new national ID. The Caribbean country is facing another hurdle when it comes to introducing digital IDs: The lack of reliable broadband services in rural areas, which limits the population’s ability to participate in the digital economy, says the Global Digital Identity Index.
The organization, tasked with measuring government digital ID capabilities across the world, argues that merging broadband policy and digital identity will be crucial for Jamaica’s digital transformation. The country’s National Broadband Initiative is hoping to increase broadband penetration to over 70 percent by 2025, ensuring affordable access to high-speed internet and helping boost digital literacy and skills.
“The integration of Jamaica’s broadband policy with a national digital identity system presents a unique opportunity to foster economic growth and social inclusion,” the organization explains in a recent blog post. Another task for the Jamaican government is developing a framework that would ensure the security and privacy of digital IDs and protect citizens’ personal information from cybersecurity risks, according to the Global Digital Identity Index.
The country has been strengthening digital privacy under the Data Protection Act by hiring more data controllers.
