Ghana card suffers setback again

Ghanaians waiting for their National Identification cards this month, April, will have to wait a while longer.

According to Deputy Minister of Communications, George Andah, registration for the cards will begin in May this year.

Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, had earlier said at a forum in Accra that the new ID card would be rolled out in April 2018.

Speaking to journalists yesterday in Accra, Mr Andah stated that there were still several processes to be followed before the final issuance is done.

“The information that I have is that probably early next month we are going to be rolling out the issuance of the Ghana cards…. I’m also aware that the government last month made available 57 pick-up trucks to ease their operations as far as logistics were concerned. And of course, you know what the situation is with the L.I. in Parliament. So I think that early next month, we should be able to start issuing Ghana cards,” he added.

The National ID card is to help formalise the Ghanaian economy through the establishment of a credible national database.

The project, which started under the Mahama government, was re-launched by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in September 2017 and was supposed to begin new registrations.

NIA had targeted to complete the first phase of the registration exercise by October 15, 2017, but it failed to do so following the delay in amending portions of the bill backing the project.

Executive Director of the National Identification Authority (NIA), Prof Ken Attafuah, had in an earlier Citi FM interview, said they might begin the entire process by mid-January 2018; but that assurance did not materialise.

The government in March 2018 handed over a fleet of cars and other essential logistics to NIA to facilitate the public issuance of a national ID card.

This followed the approval of amendments to the law backing the operation of the NIA.

Dr Bawumia handed over 57 Nissan Hardbody pick-ups, 5 Toyota Hiace Vans, 60 motorbikes and two generator sets to the Executive Secretary of the NIA, Prof Kenneth Attafuah, for the registration and issuance project, set to begin in about a month.