The Gambia begins nationwide rollout of new national digital ID

Early this month, the government of The Gambia began enrollment for the new biometric national ID card (GAM ID) for citizens around the capital as part of the first phase of the exercise.

Citizens living around the Greater Banjul area are those being served at the moment, with staff attending to citizens in designated registration centers, according to an announcement from the Ministry of Information.

President Adama Barrow presided over a ceremony on June 30 to officially launch the ID system which has been built by Margins ID Systems Ltd, a subsidiary of Ghana’s Margins ID Group. The firm has the responsibility under a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement to modernize the infrastructure, manage it for a number of years, and then hand it over to the government. PPP is a model getting increasingly popular with digital public infrastructure (DPI) development projects. Liberia is one West African example.

Per the enrollment schedule released by the government, registration teams will be available in different locations across some administrative regions on Monday, September 7; Friday, September 11; and Monday, September 21. Applicants are expected to present any of these three documents, namely a valid Gambian passport, a Gambian birth certificate, or a valid or expired national ID card issued by The Gambia Immigration Department.

Officials have also announced that the card for first-time applicants is processed at a fee of 450 Gambian Dalasi, around US$6.12, payable at any Ecobank branch around the country. Holders of a valid and unexpired ID card or an enrollment printout from the Immigration Department can get the new card free of charge during the rollout.

The Gambia’s new ID system is a major shift from the old one, which was very fragmented, less trusted, and also faced contractual issues. The new system, according to the government, is in line with the trend where countries no longer want to keep siloed identity systems that are neither interoperable nor sufficiently secure.

Authorities are calling on citizens to show up in large numbers for the card, which they say, is a critical tool that will facilitate access to a wide range of public and private sector services, and contribute to efforts towards reaching the small West African country’s national development goals.

Article Topics

Africa  |  biometric enrollment  |  digital ID  |  identity management  |  national ID  |  public-private partnerships  |  The Gambia