National ID Cards: Thumbs Up...

I must admit it. I have been critical of the Tanzanian government; particularly on the way it has been making decisions. To be honest, and at least from my perspective, most of the decisions that the government has made are just ridiculous.

I have also committed myself to being fair. When the government makes a good decision, I will not hesitate to commend that. Besides, what I desire is for the government to constantly make great decisions. Good decisions do not only indicate a sign of maturity and accountability, it shows a sense of intelligence and superb common sense application. In the very end, the regular mwananchi becomes a winner. Isn’t a great a win-win situation?

One of the areas that have been a black spot in the Tanzanian government is the perceptions and reality that corruption is rampant when it comes to granting of major contracts. (But I think I can cut the Tanzanian government a slack, since signs of kickbacks and gross graft cloud contracts in most countries).

So through my web browsing, I came across news that the Tanzanian government has awarded Digimarc a contract to generate voters’ identification cards. That’s what Digimarc’s official website is saying, but I think these identification cards will be regarded as national identification cards.

The Tanzanian national identification card project will cost a huge financial bill. At the estimated $160 million, (according to story published by the Guardian, the cost of implementing the project is estimated to be TShs 162 billion, which is roughly equivalent to $160 million) that is not a small change for a country like Tanzania. I know there has been a debate on whether spending such an amount is justified or a priority given the fact that most school kids do not have school supplies or even desks and chairs. I am not going to dwell on that, but I like to run some numbers to make sense of some things.

Just by doing quick calculations, you can tell that $160 million divided by 35 million people (that is an estimate), will give you roughly $5 per each Tanzania. That is about TShs. 6,000. Given that national identification will be issued to every Tanzanian, there will be not preferential treatment in getting the national IDs. I would cry foul if just a fraction of Tanzanians will benefit, if the cost per each person was extremely high.

Besides, Tanzania is the only country in East Africa without national identification cards. It is about time we get one. If you ask me what the identification cards would do the lives of ordinary wakulima, I would not honestly be in a position to give you a straight answer. Nonetheless, I know some things are just necessary evils.

In the past, I know such contracts would have been awarded to some shoddy companies like Richmond Development Corporation or the like of Dowans whatever. I don’t know how Digimarc got the contract, may be through oiling somebody’s palms, but given that generation of identification cards is what the company does, I hail the government for selecting a company that will play within its core competency.

In addition, given that Digimarc is a publicly traded company, we can officially log a complaint against the company with the United States government, if we come across information that will indicate that the company has violate the United States laws, which includes paying bribes to secure contracts or do business in foreign countries. In addition, we can vouch the company’s background and past performance.

I am admitting it; the government has taken the best route with regards to engage an appropriate company for generation of national identification cards. For that, I sincerely commend them.

So this is the deal: If you are a Tanzanian living in the United States or Canada and can buy shares, just go ahead and buy Digimarc’s shares as a piece of your portfolio. That way, we can always take “our” money back. And I think that is smart.