- Liberian government extends compulsory national identification card registration by 76 days
- The decision followed a chaotic rollout process that sparked national outrage
- The National Identification Registry says for the time being, people are allowed to access banking and other services without national ID cards
MONROVIA, Liberia—The Liberian government has extended the deadline for compulsory registration of national Identification Cards by 76 days. The move followed a chaotic rollout process that had sparked national outrage. Long queues, poor communication, and limited infrastructure had triggered widespread frustration and service denials for millions.
By Tetee Gebro and Joyclyn Wea with New Narratives
The National Identification Registry said citizens and foreign residents alike had until August 31 to obtain their ID cards.
The government’s move followed a FrontPage Africa/New Narratives article, in which citizens voiced anger over the ineffectiveness of the process and said they had been denied of vital services. At a new conference, Mr. Andrew Peters, executive director of the Registry, said they took the citizens’ concerns seriously.
“We have listened to all of the excuses from Liberians that they are caught unaware,” said Peters. “We are giving you a time frame of two months, 15 days, where mass deployment will take place.”
The national ID system is vital to a country— largely tied to governance, security, and development. The Liberian government is also ensuring that it’s a major requirement for banking and SIM card registration other essential services. It’s also meant to prevent electoral fraud and improve governance in a country, where only 14 percent of citizens had registered for national IDs before President Joseph Boakai’s April 14 mandate.
Digital Access, But Physical Biometric Still Required
To fast track the registration process, the Registry said it would launch an online portal next week, allowing applicants to apply from anywhere—potentially reducing the crushing crowds at physical centers. But Peters admitted that online registration alone couldn’t absorb all the burdens associated with the overall registration process.
“When you register, when you fill in the form, that’s not the registration — you will physically appear to defend the information you put on the phone,” said Peters in a separate interview with FPA/NN by phone. “You’ve got to appear so you can do your biometric.”
Peters said as part of the new plans, the number of enrollment centers in Montserrado County will increase from 14 to 164, with 500 new enrollment kits deployed.
“You can see the enrollment cases that are here,” said Peters at the press conference. “We’ve got smartphones, we’ve got tablets, and our people are prepared to proceed.”
Peters said they will deploy teams across all of Liberia’s 15 counties. He said more than 3,000 temporary jobs for young Liberians will also be created as a result of the extension.
Citizens Welcome Changes, Raise Concerns
The extension may have helped to calm any tension surrounding the registration process, but there are still concerns that some people may be excluded from it. Oscar Koung, a Liberian citizen, said although he supported the security benefits of the ID system, he was worried about a potential exclusion of uneducated people from the online system.
“Some of them don’t know how to speak English,” said Koung. “The online registration, for me, it’s good. And it’s good for people who can read and write.”
Yekehson Roosevelt Nelson, who spent money to secure a spot in line at the offices of the Registry, said he was skeptical the system would improve.
“As you can see, it’s not better,” said Nelson at the Registery in Congo Town. He paid L$1,500 to a queue-jumper, which he said demonstrated a persistent informal fee payment. “They need to improve it.”
Civil Society Cautiously Optimistic
Before the extension, leading civil society leaders, including Mr. Harold Aidoo, executive director of Integrity Watch Liberia, had criticized the lack of awareness over the process.
In an FPA/NN interview by phone after the extension was announced, Aidoo praised the government’s swift response to the concerns that had been developed from the exercise.
But he said a stronger oversight of the process was important “to make sure that there is coherence, there is stringent monitoring.”
“The fear has always been that the moment you begin to decentralize, you decentralize not just the good, but you also decentralize the rot,” Aidoo said, referring to concerns of potential corruption from the process.
Link to Elections and National Services
As part of a broader push to expand the registration process, Peters said there were plans to also link it to national election management. This strategy has largely worked in some African countries, including Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana and Sierra Leone, one of Liberia’s neighbors, which has achieved a 95 percent coverage of that. In the press conference, Peters confirmed plans to sign an MoU with the National Elections Commission this week,
making the ID system integral to future voter verification. He said it will help to prevent any potential electoral fraud.
“At the 2023 elections, you saw what happened,” Peters said, referring to allegations of vote-buying and candidate residency disputes. “This process will stop that.”
But observers say the coming weeks will test whether Liberia can realize its digital governance ambitions—or fall back into bureaucratic exclusion and inefficiency.
This story was a collaboration with New Narratives as part of the Investigating Liberia project. Funding was provided by the Swedish Embassy in Liberia. The funder had no say in the story’s content.
