Improvement in national identification commendable

The issuance of national identity cards in the country can be said to have had a chequered history.

That history begins from 1973 when such cards were issued to citizens in the border regions of Ghana, including Volta, Northern, then Upper Region (now Upper East and Upper West), Brong Ahafo, and parts of the Western Region.

That project was discontin­ued three years later because of problems with logistics and lack of financial support.

As time went by, the Ghana Card was first issued in 1993.

The history of Ghana Card itself is an interesting account because things did not go well, so the National Identi­fication Authority (NIA) was established by the NIA Act, 2006 (Act 707) to bring some sanity into the system.

Again, things did not go well as for instance, in 2009, some citizens registered for the card, but not all of them received their copies.

In fact, any interest in the card waned until September 2017 when the launch of so-called new National ID Card and since then there appears to be some steadiness but not without certain challenges.

It is public information that the Ghana Card is a national identity card issued to Gha­naian citizens, both resident and non-resident, and legally and permanently resident for­eign nationals in the country.

It is considered as proof of identity, citizenship and residence of the holder.

Ghana Card now plays some important roles in the country, as it is increasingly becoming the single source of proof of identity, with the unique number serving a number of purposes, includ­ing its use in bank transac­tions, filing of tax returns, Social Security, and health insurance.

Until now the card was issued to only Ghanaians 15 years old and above.

However, on Friday, Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia announced that in a month or two all newborn babies in Ghana would be issued with National Identifi­cation numbers, better known as Ghana Card numbers.

Interestingly, babies will be issued the Ghana Card num­bers and also get their Birth Certificate Identification numbers once they are taken for weigh-in.

Even though officials of the NIA say the cards bearing the biometrics and the children’s other data will be issued to them when they are older, after their digits and other features are fully formed, we agree with Dr Bawumia that “This is very transformational”.

However, we wish to ask what can be done for chil­dren who are yet to turn 15.

Whatever the case may be, considering the brief history of the Ghana Card we have provided in this piece, we are inclined to commend the efforts being made by the government in improving the national identification system, especially the fact that the parentage of babies will be established at birth.

It is open secret that some non-Ghanaians have assumed Ghanaian citizenship inap­propriately, some of them by the tacit push of certain people or groups.

For example, we are aware of how political parties fight for the registration of certain people to be voters while those who know them to be non-Ghanaians rise against their registration.

It is the hope of everyone that the government would continue to improve the

system and eventually attain a credible database of nation­al identification system that records true Ghanaians while capturing non-Ghanaians in their right status.