Opposition Senator Lambert Brown has accused the Government of being tone deaf in seeking support for National Identification System (NIDS) regulations in the Upper House, following a comment by Government Minister Daryl Vaz that public figures should not think that anything they have can be hidden.

Brown was among several Opposition senators who raised the issue of citizens’ lack of trust in the Government keeping their personal data safe as Cabinet member Senator Dr Dana Morris Dixon piloted and received approval for five NIDS regulations, which were tabled three weeks ago.

“This Government seems to be tone deaf to bring the NIDS regulations before this Senate at this time. You’re not listening to the people. How could you bring these regulations this week when just a couple days ago, maybe a week ago, a minister of government said nothing is secret or private anymore? Trust is necessary if these things are to succeed,” Brown said.

The Government has been seeking buy-in from citizens to embrace NIDS, an electronic form of identification, which will provide a comprehensive and secure database for capturing and storing the personal information of citizens and non-nationals ordinarily residing in Jamaica.

Brown argued, however, that the citizens of Jamaica need to feel they can trust the Government with the information they would provide under NIDS but Vaz’s statement has further eroded that trust.

Vaz had made the comment to The Gleaner after he publicised that Opposition Leader Mark Golding had applied for his Jamaican passport at age 46, five years after serving as a senator.

“No public figure, whether in Jamaica or the world, should ever think that anything they have can be hidden. You start on the premise that anything you’re involved in or associated with can be found,” Vaz was quoted by the The Gleaner a week ago.

On Friday, Brown told Morris Dixon that he wanted to support the NIDS regulations but claimed that the public fears that her broad support for Vaz’s statement, “seemingly without any investigation prior, seems to be supportive of the view that nothing is private and secret anymore, yet, the information we’re seeking from the people must be held in confidence, must be held private, must be held secret, so you can’t have it both ways where a minister of government says nothing secret and private anymore.”

Morris Dixon, at last Wednesday’s post-Cabinet press briefing, said she had no doubt that Vaz would not have tried in any way to breach data privacy rules “because he has been such a critical part of promulgating those rules,” noting that he was the minister who had oversight of the Data Protection Act before it went to the Office of the Prime Minister.

“I believe what he may have been saying when you said that nothing is secret is that when you are a public official there are always people who know things about you and there are always people who, for whatever reason, may pass information on you,” she said then.

On Friday, Brown called on the Government to renounce Vaz’s position and apologise to the Jamaican. Additionally, he said the Government should assure the public that what Vaz said does not represent the views of the Government.

“We must respect the privacy rights given in the Constitution to our people. Our position in the Government in the State ought not to be abused and I say this in respect to all sides.

My call is to respect the Data Protection Act, my call is to get the confidence of the people by being honest with them by stop playing politics and being expedient on any side,” he said.

Adding her voice to the debate, Opposition Senator Donna Scott Mottley argued that although the “unfortunate remark” by Vaz has been dismissed, “you don’t understand how much it resonates with people because that’s why they didn’t want the first NIDS”.

“The question which people are saying is to what end? To what end if nothing is private or secret? Because we are told that we must hold information private and secret and then when somebody makes a comment like that, a senior Government minister and nobody seems to take the concerns of the public seriously, we begin to wonder, should we trust this system?” she said.

Opposition Senator Sophia Fraser Binns also expressed concern about the issue of trust in NIDS and people feeling comfortable and confident that their information, although given voluntarily, will not be abused or misused.

“If we want the success of NIDS or any other legislation that is going to require people giving their information, then we have to ensure that we create a framework where persons feel that their information is protected,” she said.

In response, Morris Dixon, who is the minister with responsibility for information, skills and digital transformation, admitted that for any system like NIDS, trust is central.

“We know we live in a low trust country, a lot of our institutions are not trusted and so the concerns that we hear are concerns that are valid, so we’re not going to make light of the concerns of anyone,” she said.

“Anyone who reads something or is afraid of what’s to happen, their views are as valid as anybody else’s. I believe that we’ve created a very robust system. But I also understand that the way people feel should be respected and we need to do more in terms of educating people. We also have to be very honest with our people and give them the truth,” Morris Dixon added..

She said the business of building trust is difficult and in seeking to achieve this goal, the Government has built a very layered system, “so what I say to Jamaicans everywhere is that this system is absolutely robust.”

“We have NIRA (National Identification and Registration Authority) headed by a bishop (St James Custos Bishop Conrad Pitkin). We have another reverend on it, we have experts from the private sector. This was done intentionally. The law actually specified who [should be part of the body]…and the expertise that was needed,” she said.

The authority is tasked with overseeing the NIDS.

Morris Dixon also pointed to the National Identification and Registration Inspectorate (NIRI), which will comprise Electoral Commission of Jamaica members who will give independent oversight of the operations of NIRA.

“I think we have built in a lot of safeguards in relation to this entire system and over time it is only in the doing, and I have no doubt that these individuals are honest individuals, they are upstanding citizens of Jamaica, they have the country’s interest at heart. I have absolutely no doubt about those who have been selected and I believe, over time, we will see that commitment to data protection, privacy, and we will move forward and we will see more Jamaicans embracing it,” she said.

The five regulations, which deal with various matters relating to the operation of NIDS, were approved by the senators.

The Government has indicated that it intends to complete and launch phase one of the enrolment and issuance of NIDS cards during this fiscal year.