The National Identification Authority (NIA) says it will print over 500,000 outstanding Ghana Cards following the payment of some GHC 100 million in debt to its creditors by the Finance Ministry.
Due to the NIA’s financial difficulties, the printing of the cards was halted, resulting in the storage of around 3.5 million cards in a bonded facility.
However, when testifying before Parliament on February 28, 2023, Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta revealed that GHC20 million had been paid to CalBank after the initial GHC80 million payment.
“I think that the main question was about the GH100 million to be transferred to CalBank IMS, and as has been confirmed by the [Executive] Director for the NIA, we have indeed transferred the GH80 million, and today, with swift instructions, the GHC20 million has also been executed,” the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, disclosed.
The Electoral Commission (EC) is recommending a new constitutional provision that would make the Ghana card the only acceptable form of identity for voter registration.
Accordingly, parliament called lead representatives from the Election Commission, NIA, and the Minister of Finance in order to get further information on the subject.
The Executive Secretary of the NIA, Professor Kenneth Agyeman Attafuah, assured that the NIA is ready to print any pending cards in accordance with the budgetary clearance by the Finance Ministry, while also testifying before Parliament to update MPs on the operations of the NIA.
He assured that they are now prepared to create more cards to assist the EC in carrying out the Constitutional Instrument (CI), should Parliament approve it.
“The number of cards not yet printed, that is, persons who have registered whose records are with NIA but whose cards have not yet been printed, stands at 541,529. This figure represents the financial difficulties we have had lately, beginning approximately in July or August of last year,” Prof. Attafuah added.
He also revealed that over 600,000 printed cards are yet to be collected by the registrants, citing their unwillingness to fetch their cards.
