The Gambia has gone live with its first unified National Identity Management System, called GAM ID, built and financed by Ghanaian technology company Margins ID Group under a public-private partnership. President Adama Barrow became the first Gambian to receive the new card after going through live biometric enrolment and authentication.
The GAM ID card is compliant with standards set by the Economic Community of West African States, and the launch, held at an inaugural event, is intended to give every Gambian a single verified identity. Barrow described the rollout as one of the most significant milestones in the country’s nation-building, saying The Gambia had overcome decades of fragmented identity systems.
“We are here today to launch the system that will provide every Gambian with a secured, trusted and verified identity,” Barrow said. “For the first time in our history, The Gambia is establishing a unified, trusted national identity register with a unique identity for every Gambian.” He said the system would improve public service delivery, strengthen national security, and advance the country’s digital agenda.
Barrow framed the arrangement as a model of African collaboration, noting that although Margins supplied the technology, expertise, financing, and long-term operational support to execute the project, ownership of the system remains with the Gambian people. At the centre of the program is a National Data Centre, developed by Margins ID Group, which the government describes as the secure backbone of the identity ecosystem. Officials cast the project as an example of an African firm delivering sovereign digital infrastructure of a kind long dominated by foreign multinationals.
Amadou Nyang, permanent secretary at the Ministry of Interior, said GAM ID would serve as the foundation for a more connected government, creating one trusted source of identity that ministries, departments, and agencies could use to share verified information rather than operating in isolation.
Margins ID Group won the contract to design, build, finance, and operate The Gambia’s national and digital ID systems near the start of this year, and the launch now advances a regional push seen when ECOWAS urged member states to embrace a biometric ID card for free travel.
Sources: Citi Newsroom
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By the ID Tech Editorial Team
