Tema Mantse calls for dialogue over Ghana Card

The Tema Mantse Dr Nii Adjei Krakull, 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, he lamented that something as needful as providing identity cards for Ghanaians must not end 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 said it was an indictment on Ghana as a nation that in the 21st century, nobody could officially identify who a Ghanaian is.

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

The opposition party is also arguing that the NIA’s proscription of the voters’ ID card as a means of registration was illegal.

The government has explained 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 obtaining the Ghana Card were equally in the hands of non-Ghanaians.



“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.