500,000 Ghana maps were issued, mass registration starts before April and ends – Veep

General News of Wednesday, April 3, 2019

Source: Myjoyonline.com

2019-04-03

By the end of April 2019, the National Identification Authority (NIA) will begin issuing mbad national identity cards en mbade.

The vice president, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, who revealed this information, has already issued 500,000 cards.

In his address to the General Assembly in Accra on Wednesday, Bawumia described the introduction of national identity cards, otherwise known as "Ghana Card", as "a game changer".

He said that the introduction of the cards would contribute to Ghana's digitization space. He said the pilot project was carried out in Adentan and Madina, a suburb of the capital, Accra.

"We expect the mbadive emission will start by the end of April," he said.

Ghana's identity card has been presented as a versatile identity card containing biometric information. According to the authorities, the card will be required to access many social services, including health, education, pensions, pbadport services and business registration.

It is also planned to put an end to the status quo, as different organizations have different databases and emission maps, with some information contradicting one another.

But since the president launched the cards in September 2017, delays and delays have blocked the issuance of cards.

Some staff of some public institutions, however, were registered and received the cards.

Speaking Saturday on Newsfile, the vice president of the IMANI political think-tank, Kofi Bentil, expressed his exasperation at the slow pace of progress in card issuance.

He added that if the national identity card was fully deployed, "you could even get to a point where you might not even need voters to register."