Jamaicans, foreigners are not comparable under the NIDS law, argues attorney general
ATTORNEY GENERAL Marlene Malahoo Forte yesterday scored a day-late comeback when she argued that Jamaicans would not be discriminated against when accessing goods and services through the National Identification System (NIDS).
Malahoo Forte – who on Monday was befuddled by scenarios put to her about Jamaicans without NIDS being sidetracked in favour of foreigners with lesser identification – argued that the groups were not comparable, as foreigners would be outside the scope of the National Identification Registration Act (NIRA).
Foreigners would thus be allowed to use other forms of identification to access goods and services locally, she argued, citing previous jurisprudence that was accepted to some degree by the judges.
The comeback, however, was short-lived, as the attorney general continued to struggle for responses in relation to NIRA, which seemed riddled with unironed kinks.
The People’s National Party (PNP) has taken the Government to court to challenge the NIRA.
As the hearing continued in the Supreme Court yesterday, Malahoo Forte responded to claims by the PNP that the NIDS law was unconstitutional, as it violated the rights to privacy, the right to equitable and humane treatment, the right to due process, the right to protect property, and the right not to participate in the system.
In some instances, she said the Opposition had no grounds or evidence to support its claims, while in others, the judges were relentless in their questions about apparent breaches.
“Statements by parliamentarians are meaningless to me. I look at the statute and the statute alone. What people say in Parliament has no bearing; it is what the governor general signs. We don’t pay attention to statements,” retorted Chief Justice Bryan Sykes, when Malahoo Forte attempted to defend one of the claims based on the NIDS objectives as discussed by Prime Minister Andrew Holness.
The judges took issue with the fact that while persons may not be required to provide samples of their DNA for NIDS, they may be asked to state their blood type, which may be verified by blood samples – which, by extent, contains DNA information.