A fresh round of political conflict over the national identification system (NIDS) erupted yesterday when the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) filed a motion in the Supreme Court to block the Act, arguing that some of its provisions are unconstitutional.

In response, the Government last night said that many of the provisions to which the PNP is now objecting originated from previous drafts of the law crafted by that party.

The Administration also said that it will “show that the provisions of the law are demonstrably justified in our free and democratic society”.

Added the Government: “We have been cognisant of efforts by the Opposition to undermine the Bill from its first tabling and, despite extraordinary efforts to include them in the decision-making process, they have consistently maintained a posture of obstruction. We are prepared to defend the legislation, and we will not allow Jamaica’s advancement to be impeded and derailed.”

The Opposition’s position was outlined by PNP President Dr Peter Phillips who told the Jamaica Observer that the move is an effort to ensure that the rights of Jamaicans are respected, although the party is not averse to the country having a national identification system in place.

“The motion was filed because there is no other course of action available to the Opposition other than getting a declaration from the courts,” Phillips said. “There were many occasions when we asked for the Bill to be placed before a joint select committee for opportunities for various stakeholders to present their views and for a chance for a more comprehensive consideration of various aspects of the Bill.

“We were denied that opportunity, and our considered view from our legal advisers and the team is that there are provisions in the Bill that are, in fact, unconstitutional and that we’re asking the Supreme Court to strike down these provisions in the Bill,” Dr Phillips said following a press conference at PNP headquarters in St Andrew.

According to the Opposition leader, sections of the Act infringe on the right to security of a person; the right to equality before the law; the right to privacy; the right to a passport; the right to protection of property rights; and the right to due process.

Parliament passed NIDS act last December after which it received the governor general’s consent to make it into law.

In March this year, Jacqueline Lynch-Stewart, the chief technical director in the Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Division in the Office of the Prime Minister with oversight for NIDS, said that a multisectoral working group is to be established to commence development of the accompanying regulations for the Act.

The regulations are expected to significantly underpin the governance framework for the Act, which is scheduled to be rolled out with a pilot project in January 2019 focusing on civil servants.

Opponents of the controversial Bill have argued that the Act would infringe on citizen’s civil rights.

Yesterday, the PNP pointed to section four of the Act, saying it would cause Jamaicans to be denied goods and services if they refused NIDS. The party said that a non-Jamaican, for example, would be able to purchase property without being subjected to the provisions of the Act, while a Jamaican would not be able to.

It said that section six of the Act will allow for the violation of Jamaicans’ privacy as personal data collected could be disclosed “without any of us having an opportunity to prevent the disclosure from taking place”.

The PNP said, too, that under section 15 of the Act Jamaicans’ constitutional rights to privacy, a passport, and to vote will be contingent on their compliance with the requirement to enrol in the database. It said biometric data are the subject of informational property rights and are protected under section 13(3)(j) of the constitution.

Section 39 of the Act, the party added, will give Government the power to share the information of Jamaicans with third parties, and this violates citizens’ right to privacy under section 13(3)(j) of the constitution. The party said that section 39 of the NIDS Act also allows for the potential to misuse information.

“It’s not just our view, but other constitutional and legal experts who share the view,” Phillips told the Observer when asked about the party’s chances in court. “We have consulted widely with them and it’s not a frivolous undertaking. It’s really a last resort, because we feel fundamentally that there are breaches of people’s constitutionally guaranteed rights to privacy, rights to travel, other provisions of the constitution, including access to basic government services by taxpayers which the provisions of the Bill deny and which cannot be justified on the basis of the Charter of Rights which says that no law should be passed which is not of free and democratic societies.”

Phillips’s views were echoed by PNP General Secretary Julian Robinson.

“We are in support of a national identification system, and we believe a properly constituted national ID system would be beneficial to Jamaica, but the NIDS Bill, as currently constructed, infringes on the rights of a number of Jamaicans in some critical ways,” he said.

“We believe as a responsible Opposition we have to act on behalf of the people of Jamaica, and this is why we pursued this action. We are asking the court to strike out particular clauses and provisions in the NIDS Act,” Robinson said, adding that the Government had indicated that before passing NIDS the data protection legislation would have been passed.

The data protection Bill is now in Parliament before a joint select committee.

In its response, the Government said that it was confident that all efforts were made in the drafting of the NIDS Bill to ensure that it is in keeping with the spirit of the Jamaican Constitution.

“The Government is presently carefully studying the challenge brought by the Opposition to the current form of the legislation,” the Administration stated in a news release in which it also sought to explain the need for the legislation.

“The national identification system is one of the most important advancements in the effort to modernise Jamaica,” the Government stated. “It will ensure that all Jamaicans have access to a universally accepted, secure and efficient system of identity verification. It will also make transactions and access to services easier for all citizens, allowing the Government to adequately plan for the needs of all Jamaicans.”

The Government also said that the NIDS “will see the upgrade of Jamaica’s information technology infrastructure to better withstand emerging cyber threats while taking advantage of the significant opportunities offered by a digital economy”.