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‘Put digital ID on pause’
Article by March 2, 2021
A University of the West Indies law lecturer Monday called for Government to put the brakes on the Barbados National Digital ID set to roll out soon and rethink the bill governing it, claiming it is an intrusive government’s “assault on liberty”.
Dr Ronnie Yearwood argued that the national identity register proposed under the
Barbados Identity Management Bill “looks like an assault on liberty, and an unnecessary instruction by the government in the collection and use of personal data.”
Last Tuesday, Attorney General Dale Marshall in tabling the bill in the House of Assembly said: “A computer chip containing an individual’s fingerprint, driver’s licence and other personal data are to be included in the pending Barbados Digital ID and National ID Card.
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Opposition Senator Caswell Franklyn yesterday absented himself from the first sitting of the Senate for 2021, as he complained about the timeliness of submission of information to senators pertaining to the bills set down for debate.
The outspoken Senator sent a letter to President of the Senate, Reginald Farley, indicating he would not be attending the sitting of the Upper House and “that starting today, I will no longer tolerate this abuse and disrespect from Government”.
In the letter which was circulated to the media, Franklyn explained that he received an email from the Clerk of Parliament on February 19, informing there would be a sitting of the Senate on February 24, 2021. It added that the Order Paper would be circulated in due course.
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So said Senator Rudolph Greenidge during debate in the Senate on the
Barbados Identity Management Bill 2021 where the focus was on the issuance of a new national identification card yesterday.
“. . . Barbadians who live here may never have to be so desperate to get an ID card. Our status is assured and we don’t have to go to lengths to get one. There are some non-Barbadians who want to live . . . in Barbados even more than some of us do. And they have their reasons.
“There is one gentleman – and I have every right to believe him – where he works. He told me that he was offered $20 000 to obtain a Barbados ID card for a non-national. They are willing to pay money to get [it]. Sir, the Barbados Passport and the ID card have always been in high demand in this region. It is common knowledge, Mr President, that persons belonging to other Caribbean jurisdictions have come into Barbados and have tried to forge an ID card,” said Greenidge.
@ DonnaFebruary 27, 2021 3:07 PM
“Haven’t written for years now! The inspiration dried up. Besides, what you suggest has already been done. No need for me to redo it.”
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We would certainly like to get a copy of such a publication so as to compare notes with our own Pachamama and to retrain the parrots in Parliament.
Such a publication would worth more in literary value than the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Which printing house in Bim would be that risqué as to print Bajan cuss words as a project for public consumption?
For it would certainly be accused of corrupting and usurping the genteel moral air of Bajan hypocrisy; and, like the ‘in-plain-sight’ widespread Bajan poverty, should be hidden away from inquisitive eyes.