By L.K. Hewlett
St. Kitts Reporter
People’s Action Movement (PAM) leader Lindsay Grant has called Minister of National Security Hon. Dwyer Astaphan’s resistance to incorporating fingerprints on the proposed National Registration Cards an exhibition of ignorance.
Throughout the electoral reform process, both political parties expressed support for the implementation of some form of voter identification that would help deter voting fraud.
Astaphan claimed publicly that the inclusion of fingerprinting to any voter ID. card was too costly and would not be necessary since there would be adequate security features.
“If the fingerprinting does not advance the cause, and there are sufficient safety and security features on the card, without having to incur the very substantial cost of the finger print, why is it that Mr. Grant wants the people of St. Kitts and Nevis to be fingerprinted as if they are being brought before the police and processed with a view to charging them with some criminal offence? It is worrisome that a political leader and an aspirant to the highest office in the country would have this obsession with fingerprinting the people of this country as if we are a nation of criminals,” Astaphan said.
He said Grant and his party should participate in the progressive steps that are taking place and stop trying to sabotage and undermine the process and its integrity‚.
Grant countered by saying that Astaphan offered a fatuous and uninformed opinion bout the stated preference of the People’s Action Movement for the use of biometric
data, specifically fingerprints on a Voter Identification Card‚.
“It is unfortunate that the Minister chose to exhibit his ignorance in such a public forum and it is especially sad that he was attempting to scare the public with hyperbolic and
inaccurate protestations about criminality. How ironic it is that Minister Astaphan who is usually so reluctant to discuss the real criminality plaguing our Federation should be so quick to talk about the non-existent criminality that he is accusing the People’s Action Movement of foisting on the people” Grant stated.
The PAM leader defended his call for fingerprinting on any id card used for voting, saying that this system would mean the near impossibility of duplicate voting. He claimed that during the last General Election, persons had voted several times using different names.
“Once a fingerprint has been entered into the system, that person would not be able to vote a second time. This is the real reason that this Government has arrogantly decided that in this case Democracy must be discarded and one man, the Prime Minister with his National ID Card must rule, and the majority of 60% desiring a Voter ID Card with fingerprint must be ignored. The agenda in this case is clear,” Grant said.
“The issue of fingerprinting turning persons into criminals is simple scaremongering that has no basis in reality. For the information of Minister Astaphan and the others who are similarly ignorant a criminal is a person who has committed a crime and has been so convicted in a Court of Law. The use of personal information for the purpose of identification is a well established practice of the modern world. Documents such as passports and social security cards are well known and contain personal information such as birth dates. The biometric data in the Voter ID Card would be no different. The fingerprint information would not be a part of any national database but contained only in the card. It is fanciful for Minister Astaphan to attempt to associate such a card with infringing on privacy or especially when the Prime Minister with his National ID Card is the one trying to infringe on individual rights. A National ID Card with the wealth of information suggested in one place, which is to be used in a wide variety of circumstances, would render individuals particularly vulnerable to identity theft”.
Grant concluded by saying that Astaphan and the Government should stick to his portfolio and leave this important matter to the experts.
