By Ragan M. Conteh
Opposition leader, Honourable Chernor Bah has opposed the Le 75,000 (seventy-five thousand Leones) price for the proposed ECOWAS identification Cards.
Owing to the huge cost, Hon Bah has called on the Minister of Internal Affairs to reconsider the price adding that he was quite au fait with the ID card agreement.
The agreement, he went, on was left behind by the past government which he served as Deputy Speaker of Parliament. The Opposition leader made the call in Parliament during ratification of an agreement for the production of multipurpose ID cards.
Honourable Abdul Karim Kamara who represents one of the constituencies in the northern district of Kambia too expressed concerns over the new price saying “it is exorbitant.”
He also called for price reduction so that the people could access the cards saying it would help them access various services.
Kamara recalled incidents of impersonation, adding that the agreement would address some of the similarity problems “With this one, I am sure justice related issues would be addressed,” he emphasised.
Presenting the agreement, the Minister of Internal Affairs, David Panda Noah spoke about the mandate of the NCRA (National Civil Registration Commission) in light of the production of identity cards and other important.
NCRA, he went on, had registered several people adding that the institution’s capacity was being built to meet the job demands.
The minister also confirmed that the National, Non-National and ECOWAS identity cards would serve many purposes including banking and National Social Security and Insurance Trust transactions, enhance data speed up development and track down criminals among others.
The agreement, he said, had no implication on the state as government stood to benefit.