NDPC call for an integrated National Identification system

Chairman of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) Dr. Kwesi Botchwey says it is time for Ghana to have a comprehensive national identification system.

Dr. Botchwey made this pronouncement at a stakeholder’s consultation forum held last Tuesday, 26th July at the premises of the commission in Accra.

According to him, this will go a long way to help curtail crime, assist in the delivery of services, solve the problems bedeviling the nation’s voter’s register and provide up-to-date data on citizens; and also help determine the number of foreigners living in the country.

State agencies including the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), Ghana Police Service, the National Household Registry Electoral Commission, Birth and Death Registry, Ghana Immigration Service among others were present to throw light on the need for an integrated national identification system.

Dr. Botchwey added that a well-establish national identification system is one of the fundamental initiatives required for the successful implementation of the plan, which aims at transforming the country from a lower middle-income to a higher-income country from 2018 to 2057.

He further revealed that, efforts to develop a comprehensive system since 2003 have proven futile with many uncompleted initiatives. He said it is imperative for stakeholders to understand the causes of the undue delay in integrating the national identification system.

Dr. Botchwey stressed that, the country's population has increased after independence but there is no proper record for the more than 27 million Ghanaians and expatriates living in the country, which has resulted in the poor delivery of social services and inefficiency in planning and implementation.

The consultation aims at proposing a realistic action plan with timelines which can be monitored, to have a modern and comprehensive national identification by 2018.