Tema Mantse calls for dialogue over Ghana Card

The Tema Mantse Dr. Nii Adjei Kraku ll, has called on the government and opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) to come to a convergence point on the execution of the process to provide Ghanaians with a national Identity Card.

In an interview with journalists in Tema, the revered King lamented that something as needful as providing identity cards for Ghanaians had ended up in court.

“It is lamentable that even the implementation of something as needful as providing identity cards for ourselves, has ended up in court and political acrimony. As a country we have to learn to draw the line

“I call on the ruling party and the main opposition party to come to a convergence point on this issue so that we can have these cards as soon as possible,” he said.

He told journalists in his palace at Manhean that it was an indictment on Ghana as a nation that in the 21st century, nobody could officially identify who a Ghanaian was.

Government’s attempt to provide identity cards for citizens estimated to be some 30million, has run into controversy with the opposition National Democratic Congress and Civil Society Organisations raising concerns over a purported $1.22billion budget.

After government came out to claim that the $1.22billion was a mistake and that the cost was a little over $200million, Ghanaians looked forward to having the ID cards.

However, the opposition party soon went to court over dispute that the government’s proscription of the voters’ ID card as a means of registration was illegal.

The government had said that the exclusion of the voters ID card as a means of acquiring the Ghana card was due to the fact that there were none Ghanaians in possession of voters ID card.



The NDC which had dismissed that argument also pointed out that passports and birth certificates which the government said were acceptable for obtainment of the Ghana Card were equally in the hands of non-Ghanaians.

Some members and supporters of the NDC have since said the ruling party was trying to exclude the usage of the voters ID card because it wanted to illegitimize many ordinary Ghanaians and create room for middle class Ghanaians.



It is amidst the debate that the NDC went to the Supreme Court to force government to use the voters’ ID card for obtainment of the Ghana card.

“From where I sit, this issue could have easily been resolved without going to court. The Majority and Minority MPs in Parliament could have sat down and made corrections to the bill for the Ghana Card. It is not too late, they can sit down and resolve this issue,” Nii Adjei Kraku said.