Ghana Card registration hits a glitch

The registration and issuance of the Ghana Card by the National Insurance Authority (NIA), scheduled to begin on Monday (May 28), has suffered yet another setback.

For unexplained reasons, the staff of key public institutions including the Jubilee House, Parliament, Judicial Service and Security Services in the Greater Accra Region could not be registered as had been originally planned.

When the Ghana News Agency (GNA) visited the premises of the Judicial Service - Accra Central, at about midday, Mr. Richard Apietu, the Second Deputy Judicial Secretary, said although they received correspondence from the NIA that its registration officials would be there to undertake the exercise, none of them had shown up as of that time.

They had also not received any information from the Authority about why the registration officials were not there.

Ms. Kate Addo, Public Affairs Director of Parliament, told the GNA that registration of the Members of Parliament (MPs) and the staff for the Card would come off on Tuesday, May 29.

The National Identification Authority (NIA) is collaborating with the Identity Management System to carry out the exercise.

Efforts to speak with Professor Kenneth Agyemang Attafuah, the Executive Director of the NIA and Mr Francis Paldeti, the Public Relations Officer of the Authority were unsuccessful.

Prof Attafuah had earlier announced that the exercise would start in Greater Accra and would last for at least three months before moving to Volta, Northern, Upper East, Upper West, Brong-Ahafo, Western, Central, Ashanti and Eastern Regions.

The registration officials would spend two months in the Ashanti Region and spend a month in each in the other the regions.

The exercise is intended to register all Ghanaians onto one database platform, for easy identification, to facilitate the modernization and formalization of the national economy.

The National Identification Amendment Act 2017, (Act 950) requires prospective registrants to provide birth certificates and passports as the only valid identification documents for registration.

Additionally, they are supposed to provide other information including their digital address code, street name, electronic mails and telephone number to facilitate the registration process.

Prof Attafuah said upon successful implementation of the Ghana Card, it would be the only valid identification card for application for bank account, passport, telephone and acquisition of property, as well as other public services.

It is estimated to cost the nation about US$1.22 billion over 15 years for the successful roll out of the policy.