He said a single ID number would eliminate the current system, which saddles the individual with multiple identification cards, all of which have different ID numbers.
Casserly made the call while delivering the keynote address at a technology conference hosted by the Computer and Information Sciences Department at Northern Caribbean University on Wednesday, November 19, 2014.
Casserly, who is president and chief executive officer of PCR Nearshore, and founder of e-services group international, said the single ID card would be easier to regulate, as it would be less complicated than what now obtains.
Currently, an adult Jamaican can hold up to three national ID cards -- a passport, a driver's licence and a voter's ID -- in addition to a Tax Registration Card. Under the current system, all the national IDs have a different identification number.
Casserly says though there would have to be a period of transition, the technology exists to implement a single ID system and the capacity is available in Jamaica.
"The capacity is in our offices... it's in our hands. Some cellphones today have more computing capacity than the Apollo (spacecraft) that put men on the moon. An idea needs to be simple, the more complex it gets, the more expensive it will become," he told the packed audience of technology enthusiasts, business people and students inside the NCU gymnatorium.
He suggested that the system could be paperless, and instead could be assigned using a "chip in the eye or thumb".
He said a single ID system would add equity across the board for all Jamaicans, as it would eliminate the opportunity for corruption. "The problem with systems is that if you give people options, they'll find loopholes and there would be compromise," he said.
Though it was not clear which government agency Casserly was suggesting would manage the single ID card, he pointed out that strong penalties would have to be put in place to deter corruption.
"The penalties would have to be seen to far outweigh the benefits of doing this. So, you know, if you're caught, you're carted off to jail... no argument...," Casserly said.
He said a single ID number should make it easier to track unscrupulous individuals, and should there be identity theft, the culprit could not use another person's ID for long without being caught, as the number is uniquely assigned.
Pointing to inefficiencies, Casserly cited the example of the previously used voter enumeration system under which people were sent out to document all Jamaicans who were eligible to vote. If the enumerators did not find you, it meant you would not be on the voter's list. Casserly said a single ID system with the individual's information would alleviate that.
He said the system he's proposing would not track any financial details or banking information about the person, and suggested it be updated every five years.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Rhoma Tomlinson
Quelle/Source: Jamaica Observer, 23.11.2014
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