Central Clarendon member of parliament, Mike Henry last week urged the House of Representatives to recall the National Registration Act, which is aimed at the compulsory registration of all Jamaicans and the issuing of a national identification card.

Speaking in the sectoral debate Wednesday, Henry said that in his search for the "true population count" he placed much reliance on the Act which was tabled in the House of Representatives in 2000/2001. He said that although the Act had been re-introduced in 2001/2002 and again in 2002/2003, and was referred to a House committee on each occasion, it had not come to Parliament for debate.

He said that the committee completed examination of the bill in 2002/2003 and a draft report was prepared but was never tabled. So far this year, the bill has not been re-introduced into the House's agenda.

He noted that in 2002/2003 there was an issue of the compulsory inclusion of names of fathers on birth certificates, under the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, and the need for that Act to be amended at the same time as the passage of the NRA.

Failure to deal with the bill was "an indictment of the highest order", Henry said, as he asked why the bill was not being followed up.

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