PPP likely to object to overseas printing of national ID cards

Last Updated on Tuesday, 3 September 2019, 15:18 by Writer

The opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP) on Tuesday appeared poised to object to any idea of having Guyana’s national identification cards printed in Jamaica.

Sources in that parliamentary opposition party told News-Talk Radio Guyana that to print Guyana’s national identification cards in Jamaica will be a backward step.

The source says the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) was unaware that the printer is damaged or must be replaced.

For the PPP official, the immediate solution must include sourcing the required items from an existing supplier so that the few replacement cards and the new ones can be printed by GECOM itself.

Concerns by the opposition include whether existing and new cards will have the same specification, the time it will take to print the cards and security of the data.

The Electoral Office of Jamaica has reportedly told Deputy Chief Elections Officer, Roxanne Myers that it could not cross-match the fingerprints of the more than 370,000 persons who were registered from July 20, 2019 to August 31, 2019 within a short space of time.

A source said GECOM is now expected to revert to Cogent Services, Inc. in California, United States to do the cross-matching.