No Citizen ID Card Will Be Used In 2023 General Elections, Says Hon.Tiah Nagbe

Monrovia- As speculations continue in some quarters in the Country that the National Identification (ID) Card of Liberia will be used during the pending 2023 General Elections, the Executive Director of the National Identification Registry (NIR), Tiah Nagbe has divulged that the National ID Card of Liberia will not be used in the pending 2023 General Elections.

Mr. Nagbe said the NIR will not be involved in creating the Voter’s Roll for the 2023 Elections instead, the National Elections Commission (NEC) will work alone in generating the voter roll.

The NIR’s Boss spoke Monday, August 30, 2021, at the Ministry of Information, Cultural Affairs and Tourism (MICAT) special press briefing.

“I want to be cleared that the National Identification Registry will not be involved in generating the Voter’s Roll for 2023 General Election,” the NIR boss said. “We are not going to be involve in any of the arrangement,” he stressed.

He said that Government took the position, because it believes there is not sufficient time for all elections stakeholders to fully understand and accept the use of National ID that will be a major change in Liberia electoral system.

According to him, the process to use National ID Card for Elections in Liberia was recommended by the European Union (EU), and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) encouraged the NIR do execute the process, because many Liberians who are involved with elections wanted the system while the Carter Center advised that Liberia move the system carefully.

However, Mr. Tiah assured that all Liberians and foreign residents in the country will be registered before the end of 2023 to allow for migration to passive voter registration.

He promised that the NIR would continue to work with NEC and other stakeholders to support the democratic process in areas where the agency services will be needed.

Furthermore, the NIR’s Boss expressed regret over the delay in renewing National ID card that has expired but promised that the process will begin in October 2021.

However, he maintained that National ID Card issued by the NIR and shows expiration date of October 31, 2020 are valid up to December 31,2021.

Tiah said that over three hundred thousand SIM cards have been updated through the Liberia Telecommunications Authority (LTA) mandate using the National ID card.

He called on customers using cellular networks in the country to register their SIM cards using their National ID cards.

Hon. Nagbe said the registration process of SIM card through the LTA mandate is primarily based on security concerns.