Ghana must have a common platform for issuing Identification cards that serve various statutory needs, President John Dramani Mahama has said.
His comments come at a time when both the National Identification Authority (NIA) and the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) have started separate registration programs that issue new [but separate] ID cards to subscribers and contributors respectively.
According to the President, by integrating the various statutory ID cards issued in Ghana the country will enhance efficiency and also maximize use of scarce national resources.
“Every Ghanaian walking today carries many ID cards in his pocket,” the President said. “You carry your National ID card, you carry your voters ID card, you carry NHIS card, you carry your SSNIT card, you carry your bank card, in fact multiple cards. Why can’t we have one card that covers everything?”
The President therefore directed state agencies in charge of the various lawfully recognized ID cards issued in the country to convene a meeting to discuss ways to integrate their systems.
The President gave the directive when he opened a multi-purpose Vessel Traffic Management Information System (VTMIIS) in Accra. The system is to be used for continuous electronic surveillance of the entire coast of Ghana. The system will also ensure automatic identification of vessels operating on the Volta Lake.
The system, the first in West and Central Africa, has been synchronized into a central platform that can be used by the various security agencies, as well as vital institutions in Ghana’s maritime industry.
For instance, VTMIIS has ten monitoring stations all of which are manned by different security agencies like National Security, NACOB, Fisheries Department, Ghana Immigration Service, Ghana Navy, Volta Lake Transport Company, Ghana Ports and Harbors Authority, amongst others. All these institutions have different mandates but can work concurrently on the VTMIIS platform.
President Mahama said it should be possible for state agencies that issue various statutory ID cards in Ghana to replicate the principle behind VTMIIS.
“This must be a challenge to all the identification card authorities to convene a meeting and see how we can bring and merge all these cards together,” President Mahama said on Tuesday.
“It’s been done before and the technology exists,” President Mahama told the gathering.
Last year, the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) started a pilot project to register new subscribers onto the National Health Insurance Scheme Biometrically.
Key objectives for implementing the Biometric Solution are to, among other things, issue instant membership ID cards to subscribers, leading to improved card management. The idea is also to clean the membership database by using a Biometric Solution as a means of preventing duplicate records. Again, it seeks to implement an effective verification (authentication) system at the point of healthcare service delivery.
On Monday, the Social Security and National insurance Trust (SSNIT) also announced that is introducing a new application system to automate its core business activities.
Under the initiative known as Operational Business Smile, employers and all existing SSNIT contributors will be biometrically registered and given smart cards.
The Kumasi Area Manager of SSNIT, Allandu Azu, announced that the exercise, which begins next month, would be carried out in five phases.
The first phase will involve the registration of active SSNIT contributors of 54 years and above, inactive members and pensioners, followed by active and inactive members of 50 years and above.
By: Richard Mensah/citifmonline.com/Ghana