This is not about the TV-show. :)
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The federal government is in the process of launching an ultramodern national identification card issuance system that experts in the field are estimating to cost the country nearly one billion Birr, Fortune learnt. Seven international IT vendors and security solutions providers are now bidding to win the contract which requires the setting of infrastructure for national ID issuance and administration, which aims at identifying each of the 84 million citizens in the country uniquely. The system will be designed to collect textual and biometrical data of every citizen in a bid to verify individual’s identity, detecting and matching physical characteristics. This will thus replace the current manual identification cards issued at Kebeles - and most recently Woredas - with electronic identification procedure which experts say addresses a rather flawed security structure. The electronic IDs will be designed to contain fingerprints and principal residence of the individual, number and signature of the holder. Unlike the current ID, the national electronic IDs will not specify the linguistic cultural (ethnic) origin of the individual but citizenship, according to a source close to the project. However, when an individual registers in order to obtain one of these IDs, she will surrender various personal information such as full name, including surname, and identifications based on religious affiliation, linguistic cultural belongings and other special identification, if any, according to a proclamation Parliament issued in 2012, which governs the registrations of vital events (dates on birth, death, marriage and divorce) and national IDs. This Proclamation will make legally mandatory for every Ethiopian citizen of 18 years of age or above to be issued with a national electronic ID. Such information on citizens will be stored in a central database that could later be linked to database of authorized public institutions for identifying and verifying when requested services. These institutions include banks, transport authorities and municipalities, according to the law. “The national ID by its might helps to identify each person uniquely,” Amha Bekele, IT advisor for Eastern Africa, who currently evaluates a national ID projected launched as a pilot in Mozambique, told Fortune. However, once the system is linked with these institutions, it will enable everything about an individual, including what he owns. “Some even call the system ‘big brother’,” Amha said. The IT companies interested to install “big-brother” in Ethiopia have offered their technical proposal on Thursday, October 18, 2012, at the Nationality & Immigration Affairs Main Department, where each has deposited 100,000 dollars in bonds. The bid opening was chaired by senior officials from the Ministry of Finance & Economic Development (MoFED), National Intelligence & Security Service (NISS), and managers of the National ID Project Office. The latter was an office established to facilitate the implementation of the project a year ago. Experts from the Information Network Security Agency (INSA) were also present to observe the process. Some of the bidders were pleased with the professionalism they saw at the opening. “It’s rare to see bid committee people come to you making you feel that they have done their homework,” said a manager of a local IT company who entered into the bid in partnership with an international firm which primes in the contest. “I was impressed and have a good feeling they will do justice to the fairness of the process.” Almost all the major players in the global national ID system industry have come to bid for the project, Fortune learnt. They include the Israeli On Track Innovations Ltd (OTI); the Malaysian IRIS Corporation; the French Morpho; and the Chinese Huawei Technology. It will take between six months to a year for the technical committee to finalize its evaluations of the offers before announcing the results, people close to the process disclose to Fortune. Each of the company has presented bid documents last week each weight no less than 30Kg. The company that will be awarded the contract will design and develop software for registration of citizens, supply the cameras and finger scanners as well as printing machine to print the IDs. It will be required to stay in the life of the project, managing the database, for at least two years, according to a manager of another local IT firm, whose company has entered into the bid, together with an international IT vendor. The ID will remain valid for 10 years and should be renewed thereafter, with latest information on the ID holder updated, according to the law. However, there are concerns among privacy experts who argue that the program gives the state an enormous knowledge and power over citizens to infringe on their privacy. Amha, however, dismiss such fears, for the benefits of the program outweighs for Ethiopia than the case is otherwise. “The system’s major objective is to assist private and public institutions in giving efficient services,” officials involved in the project told Fortune, hoping to reassure members of the public. Belachew Bogale, president of Birhan International Bank (BIB), agreed. National IDs will help Ethiopia’s financial industry move one step farther as it will enable them identify individuals in few minutes when they want to get service from banks, according to him. Though identifying their clients is basic responsibilities of banks, for, they are depending on the manual kebele IDs, doing so has been proven to be difficult, Belachew said. Banks rely on identification cards provided by kebeles but often their officers get frustrated because these IDs are easy available and open to forgery. This is because a person may have several original kebele IDs, with different names, or multiple IDs produced under forgery. For instance, in one of the woredas in Cherkos District, around 108 fake IDs were found issued in the last fiscal year, according to a woreda official, who wishes to remain anonymous. “There are times when we were cornered with a person’s ID who does not even exist,” Belachew told Fortune. Banks rather prefer to see driving licenses of passports, which are believed to be more secured. “The new national IDs will avoid such problems, as the printed card will have its own features that will make forging difficult,” said an official close to the project. “The companies are expected to come up with sophisticated security features for this purposes.” The service of issuance will be available at various locations across the country through the branches of federal agency that will be established by a regulation. - AddisFortune |