By Ernest Bako WUBONTO
Ghana’s National Identification System, popularly known as the Ghana Card, a digital public infrastructure (DPI) established to serve as the cornerstone to create a robust national database capable of driving digitalization, yet to realize its full potential seven years on.
Since its inception, the system has achieved significant milestones, but some structural challenges have hindered its multifunctionality and optimum usage.
The Ghana Card, a biometric ID card, has become a widely accepted form of identification system integrating personal data, including biometric information, a unique identification number, and other critical details. It can function as a multipurpose card. However, full synchronization of the database with different platforms for its multipurpose functionality seems to be in limbo.
Citizens still carry multiple ID cards for various services that the Ghana card could have performed upon achieving multifunctionality. For instance, Nigeria’s General Multipurpose Card (GMPC), a single card for multiple purposes, is already delivering identity verification, financial transactions, and accessing government services.
The National Identification Authority (NIA) as of October 2024, has registered about 18 million out of the 34 million population of Ghanaians and foreign residents under the Ghana Card initiative. This has laid a strong foundation for a comprehensive national database.
However, the ID system has some lapses that need attention to achieve full integration for multipurpose usage.
Former Executive Director of Africa Centre for Digital Transformation (ACDT), a digitalization policy think tank, Kwesi Atuahene, expressed that the Ghana Card is designed to be a multipurpose card, serving as a single trusted identity for various transactions, including banking, voter registration, SIM card registration, and even as an e-passport. However, integration and some technical operational issues remain an impediment.
Mr. Atuahene further mentioned that the Ghana Card is not progressive in design, and poses a challenge to its integration for passport processing and other recurrent database systems. He argued that while the Ghana Card serves as a foundational digital identity tool, its effectiveness relies heavily on the timeliness and accuracy of the data it holds. However, the data captured during the initial issuance of the Ghana Card in 2018/2019 has not been updated for most people after six years.
Healthcare Sector
Whilst the ID system has been integrated into the healthcare delivery sector, successfully replacing the health insurance card to a large extent, the expert believes more aspects in the industry, such as replacing the same with the Lightwave Health Information Management System (LHIMS) ID card, among others, persist.
The Ghana Card is also argued to be a good database to establish special healthcare services to the aged in society, especially the marginalised or the poor.
Integrating the Ghana Card fully with healthcare systems can simplify patient identification, improve access to medical records, and ensure efficient delivery of health services.
Banking and Digital Payment
The move to integrate the Ghana Card into the banking and financial transactions system began in 2022 to enhance financial inclusion, security and convenience. However, ACDT believes the process remains incomplete, preventing users from fully accessing its additional benefits.
ACDT’s Executive Vice President, Evelyn Kwarteng, highlighted that seamless integration of the Ghana card into banking operations would facilitate government efforts to synchronise the card with all major national databases, including healthcare, tax clearance, and social services provision.
She urged the Bank of Ghana (BoG) to intensify its collaboration with the National Identification Authority (NIA) to fully integrate the Ghana Card into banking operations so that it could become an ATM card used for withdrawals, transfers, and payments.
Madam Evelyn emphasised that in an era of globalization and e-commerce, the full integration of the ID system will foster international payment services providers such as Mastercard, PayPal and Visa to partner with the central bank to ensure the Ghana Card can be used for purchases and digital transactions on online shops like Alibaba and Apple store.
“The NIA, in collaboration with the Bank of Ghana and financial institutions, should ensure that all bank accounts are linked to the Ghana Card through a secure national database. This will allow customers to perform ATM withdrawals, transfers and payments using their Ghana Card,” she stated.
This would further eliminate the burden of carrying multiple ATM cards based on the number of one’s bank accounts and enhance individual credit score credibility for accessing financial services efficiently.
Linking the Ghana Card to the banking and non-banking financial sector fully such as bank accounts and mobile money platforms can streamline transactions, enhance financial inclusion, instant loan services, and reduce fraud. It will ultimately serve as a universal ID for ATM withdrawals, transfers, and payments, as proposed by ACDT.
Business Registration
In the wake of the need to expand the tax net to generate more revenue, a combined statement issued by the National Identification Authority (NIA), Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), and Registrar General Department on April 1, 2021, announced the commencement of the plans to replace the GRA Tax Identification Number (TIN) with the National Identification Authority (NIA) Personal Identification Number (PIN), known as Ghana card PIN.
This was in line with the government’s policy on the issue of a unique identifier for all transactions where the identification of an individual is required. Further, it said after April 1 to December 31, all existing TINs will be replaced with the Ghana Card PINs. The statement adds that a Self-Service portal has also been made available on the GRA website for existing taxpayers who have registered and have been issued with a Ghana card to link their Ghana card PIN to the TIN.
Thus, after the transition, the Ghana card PIN would be the sole identification for tax assessment to have a unique identifier for all transactions.
Four years later, TINs are still issued and required for business registration, whether or not one owns a Ghana Card. The NIA has successfully integrated its system for business registration, but the practicality of the efficient replacement of TIN with the Ghana Card to validate tax flow is yet to be realized.
Research Assistant at Center for Data Processing and Geo-Spatial Analysis (CEDPA), Michael Sumaila NLASIA, highlighted that the goal of tax digitization is to collect the maximum amount of revenue with minimum cost to the state. The transition from TIN to Ghana card would provide data statistics and information about the economy, for example, determining which assessable persons are and are not taxable.
“In some jurisdictions, there exist, side by side, an individual tax identification number and national identification number. For example, in the United States of America, an individual TIN is only available for certain non-residents and residents who cannot get a Social Security Number (SSN), whereas a Social Security Number is available for citizens. Thus, when you have a social security number, you do not need to have a TIN to pay tax. But, in Ghana, after the transition, the Ghana card PIN will be available for both citizens and non-citizens for tax law administration,” he said.
However, Ghana could not fully realise this target, an indication of underutilization of the full potential of the Ghana Card in business registration and transactions.
Electronic Voting
Whilst the NIA has created a robust identification data for all Ghanaians aged 18 years and above, same as the age that qualifies an individual to vote in this country, the Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana is yet to capitalize on this vital biometric data for the electoral purposes.
The EC has maintained ahead of Ghana’s 2024 general election that the Ghana card remains the sole document for voter registration, therefore, anyone who made it onto the register had the Ghana Card. Thus, with this biometric database tracing voters and verifying their vote cast electronically could be done seamlessly.
The EC and the NIA must deepen collaboration to enhance the ability to use the Ghana card biometric database as a source document to advance the country’s voting system. This will also curb the challenge of rejected ballot papers due to faulty thumbprints.
Transportation
Road accidents in the country have been on the increase over the past decade with some drivers engaging in ‘hit and run’ practices. By linking the Ghana Card to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), citizens can use it for biometric verification when applying for or renewing driver’s licenses.
This can also aid in easy identification and tracking of vehicles that knock down pedestrians and run away with the assistance of the numerous CCTV cameras deployed by the police across the cities.
System Challenges
The Executive Secretary of NIA Wisdom Kwaku Deku, in his remarks about the challenges associated with the Ghana Card issuance at birth, for instance, outlined that duplication of submitted data, weak and unstable network in some parts of the country resulting in delay or inability to verify data, and slow operating system of devices used to capture data, among others remain impediment to the full deployment of the Ghana Card at all levels.
These challenges, among other unmentioned system challenges, need attention for further investment for the Ghana Card to attain full operationalization.
The Ghana Card is inevitably evolving into a multi-purpose ID card with the various linkages that have been started, however, these processes need enhancement and fast-tracking for full realization.
Way Forward
Instituting measures to regularly update data on the Ghana Card to make it progressive is very crucial. Additionally, improving data capture and card access in remote areas would be of great advantage to the integration.
Integrating health records and social security information could make the card indispensable for accessing healthcare and welfare services such as the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme that was recently defiled with ghost names.
Also, it is important to extend the Ghana Card at birth and to children registration to all health facilities, especially those in the hinterlands and private facilities as well, to create a comprehensive national database, aiding in planning and resource allocation.
The Ghana Card serves as a crucial component of Ghana’s Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI). Thus, a network of digital systems and services that allow governments to deliver public services efficiently and securely to citizens, essentially acting as a foundational digital infrastructure for a country, enabling access to services like digital identity, payments, data sharing, and government records.
This report is produced as part of the DPI Africa Journalism Fellowship Programme, a collaboration between the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) and Co-Develop.
