Special provisions for disabled persons and homeless under NIDS
KINGSTON, Jamaica— Special provisions will be made for vulnerable Jamaicans, including individuals living with disabilities and the indigent, to be registered under the National Identification System (NIDS).
This was disclosed by Minister without Portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), Floyd Green, who has responsibility for overseeing the NIDS project.
“We have been working with our association that treats with persons with special abilities and disabilities across the country, and we are working on how that will be operationalised in the card,” Green said.
“In fact, we do see this as a great opportunity to update that database of people who have disabilities, who have special abilities, who are now outside of [the] system and are not being captured. So we are working on a framework for that,” he assured.
The minister noted that recently, he reviewed the proposal to include individuals who are sometimes not captured by any identification system.
Coming out of that review, he said: “… we’re working together with our associations to see how we can have even members of the associations at our enrollment sites to ensure that the data is captured and is transferred to them.”
The minister reiterated that everyone will be counted under the National ID programme, ranging from the mentally challenged to homeless people.
NIDS will provide a comprehensive and secure structure to enable the collection and storage of identity information for all Jamaicans, on a voluntary basis.
This secure voluntary tool can verify an individual’s identity, facilitate the electronic signing of documents and securely access a range of Government services online.
The phased national roll-out of the NIDS cards is expected by later this year, the government has assured.