What happens to validity of Ghana Cards, passports procured using birth certificates? – Prof Gyampo

Professor Ransford Gyampo is seeking clarification on the validity of the Ghana Cards and Passports that were procured, using birth certificates as means of citizenry identification.

This follows the Supreme Court’s ruling declaring that a birth certificate cannot be used as a form of identification to establish the identity of the bearer.

The court, believed that a birth certificate does not link the holder of the information on the certificate hence it cannot be used as a form of identification which qualifies a person to be registered on to Ghana’s Voters’ Register.

However, Professor Gyampo has said that the Apex court ought to have clarified if the existing card which was procured using birth certificate are still valid.

He also suggested that per the Supreme Court’s ruling, institutions that used birth certificate as a means of identification must revise their requirement to exclude the birth certificates.

This, he says, needed to be addressed urgently.

“Now that it is a law that birth certificates aren’t means of identification, will the National Identification Authority amend its requirements for procuring a Ghana Card by citizens? What happens to the validity of the Ghana Cards and Passports that were procured, using birth certificates as means of identification?” He asked.

The outspoken Lecturer, however, indicated that although there are issues with the Ghanaian birth certificate, rendering the birth certificate invalid “does not make sense as the flaws are surmountable” adding “we could learn from country like US that issues birth certificate in 24 hours after birth and is valid to be used for a month to acquire a visa.”