FINNIGAN WA SIMBEYE, 7th February 2010 @ 15:00, Total Comments: 2, Hits: 1127
THE first batch of national identity cards will be issued to Tanzanians before the end of this year, National Identification Authority (NIDA) Director General Dickson Mwaimu told editors in Dar es Salaam yesterday.
He said the main consultant for the job has already been picked while five foreign firms have been short-listed for the contractor's job.
"Our target is to release the first batch of national ID cards later this year because the contractor will be picked up soon. We hope to start with people who are already organized such as employees," Mr Mwaimu said.
He said Gotham International who have been involved in the whole process of coming up with a system of national identification have been picked as main consultants while core work will be done by a foreign firm to be picked from the five short-listed firms.
Mr Mwaimu said the identity of the five short-listed firms will be known once the bidders are informed and ultimately the winning bidder is picked in line with Public Procurement Act of 2004.
Tanzania has had no national IDs and the process of putting in place a system to identify and issue the cards since 1964 has been bogged down in controversy and bureaucracy.
The latest bid to implement the giant 200bn/- project has seen establishment of the NIDA by President Jakaya Kikwete last year. Mr Mwaimu who formerly worked with Registration Insolvency and Trusteeship Agency was appointed as first DG in December.
Under the giant project, 14 sub-projects involving opening NIDA district offices, public awareness campaigns, field data collection, database and server installation, registration and finally ID cards issuance, will be implemented.
"It's not simply issuing people with cards, no. It's a whole system of identifying people and their places or origin, their work and where they live before giving them ID cards," Mr Mwaimu said.
Last year, the Home Affairs Ministry spokesman, Mr Isaac Nantanga, announced six names of foreign firms which had been short-listed for the project after 54 bidders were evaluated by the ministerial tender board.
A controversy followed which involved allegations of influencing the tender process by Home Affairs Minister, Lawrence Masha. The Minister was later cleared by a probe team formed by the Parliamentary Defence and Security Committee.
The short-listed firms were Unisys of South Africa, Giesecke & Devrient FZE of Dubai, Iris Corporation Berhad of Malaysia, Madras Security Printers of India, Marubeni Corporation in partnership with Zetes and NEC of Japan as well as Tata Consultancy Services in collaboration with Ontrack Innovations Ltd of India.
In 2007, President Kikwete said the government was determined to implement the project at any cost, because it is for the benefit of the country.
Total Comments on the above stories (2)
Comment
Very Interesting article.
This is another bigger than epa scandal on the boiling. I hope and trust that authorities will revisit the whole scenario and find out the truth...The cards including printing if its the top end ones used in the world shouldnt cost more than US$3.oo per card...... Thats what the govt should be looking at to pay............
I have done my duty now upto the President to come and take control.
Comment
looking on the matter at large, it is a superb idea to quicken the process.
but the veracity of the process must be its core please.
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