By Theckla Gunga – EMTV News, Port Moresby
The closure of the Civil Registry Office in Port Moresby due to outstanding rental payments has frustrated applicants of the National Identification (NID) Card. Yesterday morning, over 200 people who turned up to check on the progress of their NID Cards expressed disappointment over the closure.
Most of whom have been waiting for their NID Cards to be processed since 2016. Linda Kopi, one of the applicants, said she had lodged her applications in 2016 and still has not picked up her NID Card. Most times, the applicants are told the delay in processing their NID Cards is because of administrative issues.
Steven Wani, another applicant who came to Port Moresby in 2017 to process NID Cards for his wife and five children says the long delay has affected the processing of his family’s travel documents.
“We cannot process our passports, because NID Card is a requirement, but we have been going and coming back here for months and still our cards are not processed,” Wani said.
Beteli Tali another NID applicant says her applications were lodged in 2016 and she is still waiting. The delay in getting her NID card has affected the processing of her other personal documents like bank cards.
The NID System was rolled out in 2015. It was aimed at collecting data from Papua New Guineans which will be used as a nationwide database. Three years after the rollout and more complaints are surfacing on the delay in processing those ID Cards. Authorities heading the process of NID Cards have been contacted and are expected to make a response to this.
