President Akufo-Addo Receives New “Ghana Card”
The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has received his National Identification Card, dubbed the new “Ghana Card”, at a ceremony held at the premises of the National Identification Authority, on Friday, September 15, 2017.
According to President Akufo-Addo, the new identification card signals the dawn of a new day in biometric identity management in Ghana, and the virtues of a public-private partnership arrangement in meeting the country’s development needs.
The President indicated that the launch of the card “constitutes a practical demonstration of the fulfilment of yet another promise of my party, the New Patriotic Party, made during the 2016 campaign.”
The campaign promise, he recounted, was that “we would modernise and formalise the Ghanaian economy through the establishment of a credible national database, and using the National Identification System (NIS) as the primary identifier, as prescribed by law.”
Despite several years of demonstrated inability to do so, the National Identification Authority (NIA), under the tenure of an NPP administration, the President said, is about to commence the registration and instant issuance of national identity cards to all Ghanaian citizens, both at home and abroad, as by law prescribed.
“My presence at today’s event, together with the Vice President of the Republic highlights the seriousness to which my government attaches to the National Identification System project,” President Akufo-Addo said.
He continued, “With my fullest endorsement, Vice President Alhaji Bawumia has ably spearheaded the technical and legal processes that have enabled the Government to decide how to proceed with the goal of achieving a National e-ID system for Ghana, which is beyond needless controversy and polemics.”
President Akufo-Addo bemoaned the proliferation of biometric systems by other government agencies that are mandated by law to access information from the National Identity Register.
Assigning the collection and custody of biometric traits to a single institution, he explained, “is safer and in line with current trends. By statute, the NIA is under obligation to ensure the accuracy, integrity, confidentiality and security of data it collects.”
Source: otecfmghana.com
