Following the fire, on Sunday evening, the office of the National Identification Office (ONI) in Les Cayes, officials feared that the voters information have been destroyed. It is not so, Ronald Covili, the Director General of the ONI said today "the computer where the data of the voters were stored suffered no harm" specifying that dispositions will be adopted to reprint the cards destroyed in the fire and that "this will not affect the electoral process".

Ronald Covil is convinced that this fire is of criminal origin, after police found traces of gasoline at the places of the disaster, adding that the operations of the ONI are very difficult in the south, recalling the recent burglary of an another ONI office in Port-Salut. The head of ONI has insisted that his institution has nothing to do with politics except that the ONI works to provide the citizens a national identification card that allows them, among other things to vote.

Ronald Covil benefitted from this focusing to announce that the ONI and the NGO Viva Rio, was signed last Monday, October 4th, a Memorandum of Understanding for the establishment of an office of the local ONI in the NGO building, on boulevard Jean Jacques Dessalines. This is, according to the director of ONI "to decentralize the services of the institution", affirming that "the citizens of the town of Port-au-Prince and part of the town of Delmas may benefit".

These are, he said, "the same services provided by the central office of the ONI, which will be available to local Viva Rio. Citizens will be able to apply for a national identification card (CIN) or changing the data on the cards they have now", recalling that it is a completely free service.

See also:

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-1347-haiti-les-cayes-fire-at-the-oni-office-in-les-cayes-south.html

S/ HaitiLibre