Ghana’s National Identification Authority (NIA) has issued a total of 190,775 national digital IDs (Ghana Cards) in the first six months of this year. Ghana issues the Ghana Card to foreign nationals, but only those who are legal residents. Of the over 18 million Ghanaians registered, 17.5 million cards.
In the statement, the ID authority cautioned against verifying ID cards by just physical inspection or photocopying, a practice which it said “poses significant risks and has contributed to the unfortunate circulation and use of fake Ghana Cards by unscrupulous individuals.”
He said some reforms introduced have led to expedient delivery of ID services, including the introduction of an online application system and free services for first-time ID applicants.
He noted that along with the growing issuance numbers, the NIA is also expanding its integration with other national systems in order to streamline service delivery. Among others, Muntaka mentioned integration with the national tax and revenue services, health insurance as well as social security agencies.
The minister also spoke to reporters about the success achieved in terms of clearing a huge backlog of national ID cards. “I can report that within the last six months, we made sure we had over 600,000 blank cards to make sure that all these backlogs are cleared,” he is quoted as saying. The NIA had received 700,000 blank cards in February for that purpose.
He mentioned the case of a Nigerian who was recently sentenced for attempting to obtain the Ghana Card via fraudulent means. “Thirteen (13) others are currently being prosecuted for similar offences. These cases reflect the active collaboration between NIA and the security agencies to protect the integrity of our system,” he noted.
While reiterating that measures have been put in place to protect the integrity of the Ghana Card, he called on the general public to report any information regarding fraudulent card holders to the competent authorities for action to be taken.