Promise Tracker: Did the Issuance of National ID Cards Commence in August as Promised?

By Haddy Ceesay

Accessing national documents has been a challenge for many Gambians in the year 2024, with a halt in the production or issuance of the National ID Cards and Drivers License for several weeks and months.

Parliamentary Inquiry

Responding to Parliamentarians query in late July 2024, Interior Minister Sanyang revealed that they “are not issuing documents because we don’t have enough consumables, because we ended the contract with Semlex, and at the time of handing over, they [Semlex] didn’t hand over enough consumables. We wanted to use their own supplier to supply us, but they refused, so we decided to look for a new supplier(s), and of the three we tried, one responded”.

Hon. Sanyang explained that “designing of these cards takes 6 to 8 weeks, and fortunately we now have the design sent to us last week. We have checked it and confirmed it. So, they have now sent it for printing, and by August 7th or 12th, we will have the national documents printed”.

According to the Interior Minister, at least three months have elapsed since the promise date when the issuance of National ID Cards should resume.

Verification: To verify the resumption of the issuance of National ID Cards and Driver’s Licenses, our reporter visited the National Issuance Center at the end of October 2024 and wrote a letter to the Ministry of Interior to get responses on how and when this will be addressed.

We looked at the temporary solutions implemented by the Government to address citizens challenge to open up Bank Accounts and apply for other services. Currently, applicants for National ID Card are being issued a document that includes their personal details that are being accepted by the Banks and other institutions. This temporary arrangement has allowed people to go about their personal and business activities, such as opening a bank account, Tax Identification Number, registering a business, among others.

Similarly, when Drivers License were not being printed earlier in the year, drivers were issued with a printout that could be presented to the Police or any relevant authority.

Upon visiting the National Issuance Center, our reporter was informed that only Driver’s Licenses are currently being printed, while the National ID Cards are not being printed.

Our reporter also submitted a request for information to the Ministry of Interior on the 12th of November, 2024. However, after conducting follow-up visits to the Ministry of Interior, they are yet to respond to our request for information.

To get the latest information, our reporter contacted the Minister for Information, Media, and Broadcasting Services, Dr. Ismaila Ceesay, about our Request for Information submitted to the Ministry of Interior. Dr. Ceesay managed to relay some information from the Minister of Interior, Hon. Abdoulie Sanyang, noting that they “have started printing the two remaining cards, i.e. the National ID Cards and the Resident Card, since Monday [9th December 2024]. Currently the Ministry of Interior is trying to work over time so as to clear the backlog”.

In addition to this, the Ministry is working on a formal response to our request.

Verdict: Promise Failed because because in August 2024, the issuance of National ID Cards and Resident Cards hasn’t commenced. The issuance of these national documents only commenced on Monday 9th December, 2024. Meanwhile, the issuance of Driver’s License started towards the end of October 2024.

This Promise Tracker was first published by FactCheckGambia.org in the link. https://factcheckgambia.org/promise-meter-did-the-issuance-of-national-id-card-commenced-in-august-as-promised/