The Papua New Guinea government has been struggling to set up the NID programme for more than ten years. Photo: RNZ Pacific
The Papua New Guinea government wants to have everyone on their National Identity (NID) card system by the country's 50th anniversary on 16 September 2025.
While the government has been struggling to set up the NID programme for more than ten years, in January the Prime Minister James Marape announced they aimed to have 100 percent of Papua New Guineans signed up by 16 September.
However, an academic with the University of PNG, working in conjunction with the Australian National University, Andrew Anton Mako, said there is no chance the government can achieve this goal.
(The transcript has been edited for brevity and clarity.)
Anton Mako spoke with RNZ Pacific.
Andrew Anton Mako: The NID programme was established in November 2014, so it's 10 years now. I wouldn't know the mechanics of the delay, why it has taken this long for the project to not deliver on the outcomes, but I can say a lot of money has been invested into the programme.
By the end of this year, the national government would have spent about 500 million kina (over NZ$211m). That's a lot of money to be spent on a particular project, and then it would have only registered about 30 to 40 percent of the total population. So there's a serious issue there. The project has failed to deliver.
Don Wiseman: Come back to that in a moment. But why does the government think that a national ID card is so important?
AAM: It's got some usefulness to achieve. If it was well established and well implemented, it would address a number of issues. For example, on doing business and a form of identity that will help people to do business, to apply for jobs in Papua New Guinea or elsewhere, and all that. I believe it has got merit towards it, but I think just that it has not been implemented properly.
DW: Does the population like the idea?
AAM: I think generally when it started, people were on board. But when it got delayed, you see a lot of people venting frustration on the NID Facebook page. I think [it's] popularity has actually fallen over the years.
DW: It's money that could go into a whole lot of other, perhaps, more important things?
AAM: Exactly, there's pressing issues for the country, in terms of law and order, health and education. Those important sectors have actually fallen over the years. So that 500 million kina would have been better spent.
DW: So now the government wants the entire country within this system by16 September, and they're not going to get anywhere near it. They must have realised they wouldn't get anywhere near it when the Prime Minister made that statement. Surely?
AAM: It's not possible. The numbers do not add up. They've spent more than 460 million kina over the last 10 years or so, and they've only registered 36 percent of the total - 3.3 million people. And then of the 3.3 million people, they've only issued an ID card to about 30 to 40 perent of them...
DW: 30 to 40 percent of those who have already signed up. So it's what, 10% of the country?
AAM: That's right, about 1.2 million people have been issued an ID card, including a duplicate card. It is not possible to register the entire country, the rest of the country, in just six, seven or eight months.
DW: It's not the first time that the government has come out with what is effectively like a wish list without fully backing it, financially?
AAM: That's right. The ambitions that the government and the Prime Minister, their intentions are good, but there is no effective strategy how to get there.
The resources that are needed to be allocated. It's just not possible to realise the the end results. For example, the Prime Minister and his government promised that by this year, we would stop importing rice. That was a promise that was made in 2019, so the thing is that the government has not clearly laid out a plan as to how the country will realise that outcome by this year.
If you are going to promise something, then you have to deliver on it. You have to deliver on the ambitions. Then you have to set up a proper game plan and proper indicators and things like this.
I think that's the issue, that you have promised something [and] you must deliver. But you must chart out a proper pathway to deliver that.
