In 2017, Ghana paid a 'hefty' sum for the design of the Ghana Card.
It has been revealed that the Ghanaian government paid a hefty sum to a French company in 2017 for the design rights to the Ghana Card, despite having paid the company for their services in 2008.
Bright Simmons, Honorary Vice President of IMANI Africa, revealed this in a Twitter post that has since been responded to by the National Identification Authority.
"How many people are aware that the Ghana Card brand design was not even owned by Ghana until recently? That it was owned by a French corporation and that the country had to pay for it? Be thankful when Civil Society scrutinizes your government. There is a battle for your country's soul "He tweeted about it.
The NIA described Bright Simmons' claims as "a mix of half-truth, insinuation, self-praise, and alarmism" in response to the policy analyst's statement.
"The artwork for the Ghana Card was designed by SAGEM MORPHO (now IDEMIA), a French company that won the contract to produce the first generation of Ghana Cards in 2008." The artwork used for Ghana Cards issued under the Foreigner Identification Management System (FIMS) to qualified foreigners lawfully resident in Ghana, as well as the current generation of Ghana Cards, is the same.
"Under the contract, SAGEM designed, built, and delivered to the Government of Ghana a technical platform for the NIA-operated Ghana Card." The contract stipulated that the artwork created by SAGEM would be used solely for the benefit of the Republic of Ghana. SAGEM held the artwork for and on behalf of the Government of Ghana, and it was not permitted to sell or otherwise transfer it to any person or entity. The artwork had to be created by a facility that was certified to create the high-level security artwork required (the same certification level needed for the design and production of currency). By 2017, as a result of corporate ownership changes, IDEMIA had succeeded SAGEM and owned the rights to the Ghana card artwork "The NIA elaborated.
According to the NIA, the Government of Ghana, despite reserving the right to pay for the artwork on the Ghana Card, did not do so until 2017, when it finally did.
"As a result, the NIA purchased the artwork from IDEMIA, the successor to SAGEM MORPHO, who could not use it for any other purpose.
This is analogous to the cedi, which was designed by a third party for Ghana but cannot be used by the designer in any other country (even if Ghana has not paid for it).
"NIA acquired the artwork in order to have sovereign control over it, multi-nationalize it with the ECOWAS Card, and have IMS II evolve it in the best interests of Ghana," the authority stated.
It went on to say that "it is both wrong and ignorant for Bright Simmons to suggest that a French company's historic retention of the artwork (brand design) has any significance."
However, in response to the NIA's response, IMANI issued a statement claiming that the response failed to deny the actual facts of Bright Simmons' claim.
The NIA, according to the policy think tank, rather corroborated the claim.
According to IMANI, the Ghanaian government did a disservice by failing to ensure that the contract signed with the company required direct ownership of the brand design.
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For more than five years after Ghana passed various measures, and eventually a law in 2012, requiring all acts of citizenship in Ghana to be expressed solely through the Ghana Card, the design rights to this lauded instrument were in the hands of a foreign company. We would not have had to pay money to secure the rights if it had no claim to it. Because we had to pay them off, it could have refused our terms and held us hostage. We should all allow that to sink in, slowly.
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