Cécile Manorohanta: biometric identification cards for transparent elections

The processing of biometric national identity cards is the HAT government’s new mission in the setting of the transition toward the 4th Republic. “People are craving for reliable and transparent elections”, declared the deputy Prime Minister Cécile Manorohanta. Such a decision is technical, not political”. The secretary of the Interior is regretting that identity check up is no more reliable to Madagascar. “When Rakoto is written, we have to be sure that he is Rakoto for real”, she added.  

The current identification cards, the version number four, is leaving too much ground to forgery. “We have got used to do things in a neglected manner, it must change because some people have four or even six identity cards, it’s a cause for mistrust”, explained Cécile Manorohanta. In Mahajanga, the presence of 30 000 fake identity cards has been noticed. “Things have to be done properly if we want to have a steady State”, insisted the Home Affairs Secretary. 

“Biometry is a casual technology, we are entitled to use it, the cost has already gone down but there is still a cost to pay. We have to make a call for bids. A kit could be provided to each commune in order to reach the population efficiently”. The deputy Prime Minister in charge of the Interior announced that a 5,962 billion ariary budget is already available. She is standing by the contribution from the other ministerial departments. “The technical meeting has assessed the required financings to find and the various project stages”, said the minister. 

According to Cécile Manorohanta “the time has come to stop doing things as they used to be done, we have to engage into computing”. The present national identity card pattern, prepared in 2004, is home made. As the previous imported one back in 1999, it is dimmed forgery proof since wrapped in a sticking plastic layer from scratch. Printing fake cards proved to be possible anyway even though the genuine ones could not be touched. The first national identity cards were significantly large double paged booklets. In the 1980s, the leaflet type card  has been adopted. 

Is the identification card operation a unilateral initiative? It is off the point according to the deputy Prime Minister. It is an administration activity, a technical question, as she emphasized. The president of the HAT had rated up to 3.5 millions Malagasy aged 18 years old or more but not having national identity card. Plus some 7 millions of recorded voters, nearly 10 millions of new ID cards will have to be processed. 

The whole government is mobilized around this national Identification card operation. The technical meeting at the Home Affairs Ministry building has gathered the ministers for new technology, finance and regional development as well as a representative of the presidency from the HAT. “The international organization of the French speaking countries is ready to help us organizing free and transparent elections” affirmed Cécile Manorohanta. She is appearing more prudent about the vote’s schedule, and she is calling upon patience until the erection of the national independent Electoral Council.