Documents such as driving licences, National Health Insurance cards, baptismal certificates and voters identity cards are no longer tenable as sources of identification for the National Identification Card (Ghana Card).
Only birth certificates and passports will be used as identification for acquisition of the card, as provided for by the National Identification Amendment Law 2017 (Act 950).
Consequently, the National Identification Authority (NIA) has recruited and trained 2,700 commissioners of oath to operate alongside staff of the NIA during the registration for the Ghana Card.
The Executive Secretary of the NIA, Prof. Ken Attafuah, told the Daily Graphic last Wednesday that the commissioners of oath would provide ready services for Ghanians who did not have the required documents, so that their registration would not delay.
He said the government had also decided to bear the charges of those using the services of the commissioners of oath.
Prof. Attafuah said the re-registration and instant issuance of the Ghana Card, which kicks off on Monday, May 28, 2018, would cost $1.2 billion over 15 years.
The government is contributing $531 million of the cost, while Identity Management System (IMS), which is partnering the NIA under a public/private partnership (PPP) agreement, will provide $678 million for the exercise.
The process begins at the Jubilee House, Parliament House and the Judicial Service on Monday, May 28, 2018.
Apart from that, the exercise will also cover the three former Presidents — Flt Lt J. J. Rawlings, Mr J. A. Kufuor and Mr John Dramani Mahama — the Chief Imam, the Ga Mantse, as well as former Chief Justices and Speakers of Parliament.
The security agencies, comprising the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF), the Ghana Police Service and the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS), will also be served, as well as professional bodies such as the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) and the Ghana Bar Association (GBA).
Prof. Attafuah said the 15-year implementation period was for the realisation of the financing arrangements designed for the project.
He explained that under the arrangement, the government would have a 60 per cent share in the profit, with the private partner taking 40 per cent.
He said the government was bearing the cost of deployment, the allowances of personnel, generators and the creation and maintenance of regional and district NIA offices.
The private partner would bear the cost of technology and equipment, with the technology to be enhanced every five years, he added.
Mobilisation
During a visit to the offices of the NIA last Wednesday, the mobilisation of personnel and logistics was underway, with hundreds of youth going through orientation for the start of field operations.
Some of them were being trained on the use of the mobile registration workstations.
Prof. Attafuah said 150 workstations were to be deployed for a start and an equal number of people to man them.
Fifty card printers would be deployed to registration areas with Internet connectivity, where about five mobile registration workstations would be linked to one card printer, he explained.
He said there would also be 50 card verification officers who would ensure the validity of the information provided and also ensure that an applicant left with his or her card.