Digital Transformation Is Inevitable – Floyd Green

Minister Without Portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister, Hon. Floyd Green, says that the idea for the upcoming National Identificaton System is not entirely new.

Since the 1970s, Jamaica has been trying to find a way to identify its people to say where they are and what are their needs, so that adequate provision can be made for them.

During the second half of this year, the process will begin whereby Jamaicans will be given a modern, electronically generated identification card that will replace all current forms of ID used. A pilot will be held in five locations starting in Kingston, in partnership with Jamaica Post.

“Digital transformation is inevitable; we all are living in a digital world and the people, companies and countries that keep up with digital transformation will do well; those who do not, probably will not survive,” Mr. Green said.

He was addressing sixth-form students at Clarendon College for the Seventh Annual John McMillan Lecture Series, held under the theme Digital Transformation Through National Identity.

He asked the students to imagine a Jamaica so efficient that multiple forms of identification are not required to apply for bank accounts or student loans. He said at the core of such a process is a verifiable identity database containing critical information in a safe and secure space.

“What we have done is set up separate databases that contain some of your identity information but they don’t speak to each other,” Minister Green said.

Among these are birth certificates, passports, Taxpayer Registration Number (TRN) and drivers’ licences that are required for daily transactions and which usually result in people giving the same information repeatedly because there is no single space where all the information resides.

Under the new system, government will pull together all identity information in one space that will be able to link all other databases throughout the public and private sectors. When complete, at birth all children will get a national identification number, then at age six, parents can apply for a national identification card. This will contain all the child’s critical information, so that in future there will be no need for multiple IDs. Once the number is put in an application, it would be populated with all the relevant information.

“The national identification system allows us to bring forward digital signatures because we will have a verifiable database enabling us to know you are who you say you are,” Green explained.

With the prevalence of cybercrimes such as identity theft, Green noted that having a national identity card made sense because in having a central database for all your protected assets, greater security will be provided.

He said for those worried that the receiver of critical personal information will have access and use of it, Green gave the assurance that under the Data Protection Act, once information is typed, it is encrypted upon entry, making it indecipherable unless the person has special access.

He stressed that the new system will be protected against all forms of identity theft now prevalent everywhere.

“We have talked about it for… years but we are now going to get it done this year; the law has already been passed and the enrolment will begin in the second half of the year islandwide. People will bring in all their present forms of ID, which will be verified and then be issued an electronic, modern identification card,” Green said.