The AFC at its weekly press conference on Friday said that with the new proposed e-ID project by the government, the rights of citizens must be assured and they must be aware as to which agency is accessing their personal information at all times.
In a press statement she read, Alliance For Change (AFC) Chair, Cathy Hughes, questioned where is the government’s public articulation of systems and assurances that will guarantee the rights of all Guyanese. She said, “Our citizens must also have rights like those guaranteed under the EU General Data Protection Regulation at a minimum. They must be able to know which individual or government agency has accessed their personal data, when, and for what purpose.”
Hughes stressed that the penalties for illegally accessing citizens’ data should also be made public.
Hughes also lashed out at the government saying that there has been no public information programme to “inform, educate and engender trust in such a system targeted to the people of Guyana which will require access to one’s most private personal data.”
Additionally, she pointed out that the planned US$34M project did not “come to the parliament for the requisite discussion and scrutiny. These omissions are all too glaring to be accidental and therefore we can only conclude this is the disdain with which this government holds its citizens which it is supposed to serve.”
Meanwhile, the party also called for the E-ID project to be rolled out in a more structured manner, stressing that moving the country’s paper-based systems to the digital world must be based on an articulated policy backed by an action-oriented road map for implementation neither of which the party said has been presented to Guyanese by the government.
She added that it is extremely concerning that the government following their announcement has had a “piecemeal approach to what should be a clearly defined structured approach to a complex issue.”
Ramblings
Hughes said, “The ramblings we have heard refer to work permits and immigration issues for the most part and fail to provide a cohesive e-Government approach.”
According to Hughes, some of the plans should include; e-Services which should seek to improve the delivery of government services to citizens through an enabling ICT-based environment, e-Participation which should reduce the digital divide in Guyana between the hinterland and remote communities, e-Administration to provide a secure computing environment for the government of Guyana in keeping with industry standards, “a whole-of-government approach with interoperability among government agencies.”
Additionally, Hughes stressed that the recommended approach should also start with broad consultation “where Government lays out their holistic e-governance agenda and identifies the key and enabling building blocks of the proposed system.”
She said an “e-ID should be just one of these blocks and others would include e-health, e-education, e-agriculture, e-tax, e-police to name a few. Integration with other digital systems such as our passport issuing and border control, birth, and death registries are also be considered.”
According to her, it remains unclear whether the integration of the e-ID system will be used with the Guyana Elections Commission’s systems and the Opposition’s call for the use of biometrics for identification at places of poll.
“A national programme of this magnitude would need to start off with the digitization of our registries. You will recall the over 100 young ICT proficient Guyanese who were in the process of doing this who were fired on the advent of this administration in August 2020”, she stated.
Ideally, she said the e-ID project should form part of modernizing the General Register Office (GRO). “GRO’s legislation may need to be updated for this level of digital modernization, in addition a comprehensive range of legislation will be required in addition to data protection and cybersecurity.”
Meanwhile, noting that they are aware of the power of technology if implemented in a cohesive manner and with the requisite legal protections, to improve access to government service, the ease of doing business, and ultimately the development of a strong robust economy and overall growth and development, Hughes said that their commitment while in government cannot be doubted as they had created a ministry whose primary focus was to examine issues such as internet governance, digital skills development, digital promotion, digital entrepreneurship, e-government, cybersecurity, post, and telecommunications.
