With the 31st July, 2022 deadline for the linking of mobile phone numbers to Ghana cards fast approaching, some members of the public are reporting that although they had taken all the steps required of them to register for and to obtain the Ghana card, they have not been issued with the card, and that when they go to the National Identification Authority’s (NIA) offices to pick up their cards, they are asked by the NIA staff to report that the cards are missing as that is the only or fastest means of getting a ‘replacement’ card. This trend is worrying for a number of reasons.
Firstly, for a card that is touted to be more important than a thousand interchanges, one would expect that the people who work in such a space would know the importance of the card, and be ready and made to account for every print of those cards. They are also expected to be serious-minded people who understand their duty to the nation and to their fellow Ghanaians. However, it seems that the Ghana Card is only being paid lip service as the processes to obtain the card are sometimes made cumbersome for the citizenry by some workers at the NIA.
Asking someone to tell an untruth just to obtain the Ghana Card is not right on many levels. Why must one report that his or her card is missing when, in fact, that person has never been issued with the card? Why must one tell a lie to enable him or her get the Ghana Card? Must lies become an official part of us as a people? Why make someone tell an untruth to obtain a card that is to tell the truth about him/her? What makes this worse is that when one is asked to go this route, he or she is often left at the mercy of that officer, and there is no real means of escalating the matter for it to be resolved.
Often, people give in out of frustration, and not because they are necessarily dishonest on their own, or willing to tell a lie. At the Police Station, where one is to make the report, one wonders why the Ghana Police Service is not connected to the NIA database to enable them assess the veracity of a claim. Should the Police Service have access to the NIA database, it would have been able to tell that the card being reported missing had in fact never been issued; or that it had been printed out, but not delivered. Access to the NIA database by the Police Service could help in other respects as well.
Another reason why this attitude of the NIA staff is worrying is the financial and security ramifications. We all know that people were contracted and paid from across the country to assist with the registration process. People left their businesses and work places, students missed lectures to join long queues in order to obtain the cards. If we all agree that time is money, then, we all may probably have ideas of how much of our individual and collective monies have been spent in this tedious process.
Why would we employ and pay people to help obtain and enter data, print the data only for a lazy person who does not want to spend time on the work for which they are paid make us lie through our teeth for a new card to be printed? It is not right that some staff of the NIA do not care about duplicating cards which inevitably would lead to shortage of blank cards needed for new registrants and those whose cards have genuinely not been printed!!
Then again I ask myself, why must the employee have to comb through thousands of dusty and mixed up cards? For an institution so central to our digitalisation agenda, one would expect that the NIA would have a database that indicates the location of each card and whether or not it has been printed and delivered to its owner.
It is also expected that the cards would be arranged such that once their locations are picked from the database, they would be alphabetically arranged to enable easy finds, but alas! Some of us have seen a video of thousands, maybe millions of mixed up Ghana Cards packed in torn jute bags which were exposed to the elements.
There was no telling from the video which of the NIA offices has those cards, but it is depressing that cards with people’s biometrics which were captured and printed at a cost to the state can be left so unsecured, and new ones issued to replace them at a further cost – whether to the individual or the state.
The other inherent danger in duplicating cards is the tendency for criminal elements to use other people’s cards for criminal activities that may not require verification of biometrics. So you could have your card with you while a criminal has another copy which is used in committing an offence. The ramifications of this are boundless and scary.
On Friday, 15th July, 2022, Mr. Abudu Abdul Ganiyu, Head of Corporate Affairs of the NIA, was asked by Bernard Avle why people were being made by the staff of the NIA to report that their cards are missing, instead of being assisted to locate their existing cards. Mr. Ganiyu, in response, indicated that persons who had registered but had not received their cards, on their own, go for police extracts claiming that they had either lost or misplaced their cards.
The NIA has, therefore, engaged the police to probe the matter further before issuing the extracts. He further stated that with the police extract, the persons are made to pay an amount of GH¢30 and are issued with a new card.
This response to the question of why the staff of NIA ask persons to report their cards missing instead of searching for and delivering already printed cards to their owners is rather worrying as it does not address the real question of duplication of cards, increased cost of production, inefficiency at the NIA, and the security implications of such duplications.
Recommendations:
- It is recommended that the NIA takes another look at its operations and staff training. It must get the frontline staff who are mandated to assist persons obtain their cards to understand the importance of the tasks they perform on a daily basis, and to desist from making such obnoxious demands on the public.
- Persons who are dissatisfied with the services of an officer of the NIA must have automatic recourse to escalate the issue to a higher authority within the NIA office to resolve the issue. This would reduce the lackadaisical and unprofessional manner in which persons are treated.
- The NIA should put in place a system to track each card issued by it. The system should be able to trace the lifecycle of a card, indicating when it was first printed. Subsequent reprints must trace the reasons for such reprints. The locations of printed cards must also be traced, and stored cards should be alphabetically arranged to enable easy access.
- The first point of call for persons who have not received their cards although they have registered should be for the NIA staff to verify the claim of the individual from the database. Cards should only be printed after confirmation that they have not already been printed.
- Where the cards have been printed but they cannot be traced, the NIA staff should use his or her best efforts to locate and deliver the card. Where it is impracticable to locate it that same day, such a person can be given a cover note with the relevant details to enable the person to do whatever needs be done with the Ghana Card.
- Since the Ghana Police Service does not have access to the NIA database yet (emphasis), where a card had been issued but the person reports it’s missing, the NIA should after confirmation of the issuance, give the claimant a chit. The chit indicating that the card had indeed been printed, along with other relevant details can then be sent to the police for an official report to be lodged and the extract obtained for replacing the card.
- Lastly, and most importantly, the NIA has every registrant’s contact details; they can call persons whose cards are ready to arrange for delivery or pick-ups. Pick-up locations should be agreed upon and adhered to. The NIA can also work with Ghana Post or DHL to deliver the cards to their owners at their preferred places at a nominal fee. This would reduce the pressure on the offices and also ensure that cards are delivered in time and that people are able to use their cards for the many things they are required to use the cards for. The Passport Office has implemented this delivery system and it is very effective, the NIA can take a cue from them.
Let us all bear in mind that we only have one Ghana, and that what we do today, will affect our collective future tomorrow.
Thank you.
The writer is a lawyer
