Ghana Card: Don’t turn yourself into vouching contractors – Ghanaians told

The National Identification Authority has warned Ghanaians to desist from taking fees for vouching in its Ghana card registration exercise.

Speaking at a media briefing to update Ghanaians on its ongoing mass Ghana card distribution exercise and to give details on its upcoming mop-up registration exercise, the Executive Secretary of the Authority Professor Kenneth Attafuah said whiles there is no limit to the number of times a person can vouch for applicants, the process of vouching must be done with integrity and honesty as well as with diligence that can prove the nationality of the applicant to be Ghanaian.

“The personal identification number of the person vouching is tied to that of the person who has been vouched for. Both parties will be prosecuted if it is discovered that the vouching process is done fraudulently.

Please be advised that nobody should take up the responsibility of vouching as a contract for fee payment. You are to vouch for persons you know to be Ghanaians and are eligible to register. Vouching falsely is criminal and there are consequences,” he warned.

Professor Attafuah went ahead to disclose that the authority has withheld the Ghana Cards of some applicants as their Personal Identification Numbers indicate that they had previously registered in the National Identity Register as foreigners and have now attempted to register for the Ghana Card as Ghanaians, without showing evidence of acquiring citizenship.

He said persons in this category will be required by the NIA to provide evidence to establish that they have subsequently acquired Ghanaian citizenship before their cards will be issued to them.

Background

Under the regulations of the NIA, an applicant of the Ghana Card must be a Ghanaian citizen and must be able to prove same by presenting a valid Ghanaian Travelling Passport, a birth certificate or a valid certificate of acquired citizenship as well as a Ghana Post Digital Address Code (residential) in order to qualify to register.

In case an applicant does not have any of the above mentioned mandatory documents, a relative issued with a Ghana Card can vouch for the person under oath, or two members of the persons community of residents who have been issued with a Ghana Card and falls within a given category of status can vouch for the applicant.

The NIA on April 29, 2019 commenced a nationwide exercise to issue identity cards to all Ghanaians across the country beginning with the Greater Accra Region. Since then the authority has conducted the mass registration exercise in all 16 regions in the country except in the Eastern Region where the exercise was truncated on March 21, 2020, due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Authority has however announced it is resuming the exercise in the Eastern Region on Thursday, June 18, 2020, to Saturday, June 27, 2020, with registration centers expected to be open from 7:00 am each day to 5:00 pm, with the exception of statutory public holidays.

The NIA is also commencing a mop-up registration exercise in all 16 regions beginning with the Upper East and Upper West from Thursday, June 18, 2020, to Friday, July 3, 2020.