President of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) Dr Ronnie Yearwood has questioned whether Government really needed to spend $10.4 million on new national identification cards for the population.And the Alliance Party for Progress (APP) has raised concerns about the timing of the big expense, given the economic challenges facing the country and its residents.During a press conference on Wednesday, Minister of Industry, Innovation, Science and Technology (MIST) Davidson Ishmael revealed that $10 434 601.99 had been spent to introduce the Trident cards that will replace the existing plastic IDs that authorities say are outdated and susceptible to fraud. He said the money had been spread over the last two financial years.However, Dr Yearwood told Barbados TODAY he believed a basic ID card, which would have been a far less costly undertaking, was all that was required.He questioned why the Mia Mottley administration had chosen a card that stores Barbadians’ personal information rather than a simpler option.“The card should simply be an ID card. When you put storage value on the card you are increasing the risk of fraud and cybercrime. Adding that value makes it a more complex issue and if you have that kind of complexity it makes it hard to secure and protect people’s privacy,” he contended.
