By introducing multipurpose cards, the government plans to address the ongoing challenges faced by citizens who have no identity documents and improve access to essential services.

Last Monday, Sierra Leonan President, Dr. Julius Maada Bio (photo, left), officially launched the production and verification of secure, multi-purpose biometric identity cards in Sierra Leone.  

The new multi-purpose smart cards are the result of a public-private partnership between the Government of Sierra Leone and Constrat Systems (SL) Ltd. They are designed to facilitate the identification of every citizen, reduce the cost of financial transactions, and increase financial inclusion, among other things.

  "With the chip-based biometric ID, banks, forex bureaus, micro-finance institutions, mobile money providers, and other financial service providers, among others, can now easily and effectively carry out the electronic know-your-customer (eKYC) process to authenticate and verify their customers at far lower costs for trusted financial transactions across Sierra Leone," the President said.

The new biometric card can be issued to Sierra Leonans (National ID cards), ECOWAS nationals (ECOWAS ID cards), and other foreigners (non-national ID cards). It will offer holders the possibility of carrying out transactions anywhere and at any time while enjoying the dual advantage of verifying their identity and being able to easily access the various social facilities provided by the government.

Let's note that in January, the Sierra Leone Civil Registration Authority (NCRA) and the Modular Open Source Identity Platform (MOSIP) signed a memorandum of understanding for the implementation of a national digital identification system.

Samira Njoya