The conviction once more of a foreign national, seeking to unlawfully acquire a Ghana Card, is an indication that the National Identification Authority (NIA) should not rest on its oars in securing the citizenship document.
We have had cause to editorialise on this all-important security subject before.
We would have normally thought that with the conviction of some fraudsters earlier, the attempts would abate. Not so anyway because, the possession of the Ghana Card is a prerequisite for critical services in the country as the digitisation fervor gathers momentum.
We are not oblivious to the arrangements on the ground to secure the identity document such as the collaboration with the Ghana Police CID at various levels countrywide.
The foregone notwithstanding, those who want to possess the Ghana Card are multitude in numbers and would employ all means to acquire it.
With many willing Ghanaians, some of them ready to claim birthing the foreigners or facilitating their acquisition of Ghanaian birth certificates, the foreigners have a leverage which they would explore to their advantage.
Ghana, as part of a sub-region awash with pockets of bandit activities, this is the worst time to allow non-citizens to pretend to be Ghanaians.
It is heartbreaking and mindboggling that citizens of Ghana would for the lure of pittances, facilitate the breaching of the law so foreigners can acquire the Ghana Card.
Although some identity fraudsters have been nabbed and convicted, there is no doubt that some have succeeded in overrunning the system.
Information we have gathered is that there are persons, Ghana Card possessors, who make themselves available to foreigners who find it difficult to get the required number of persons to vouch for their citizenship.
It is our stance that the NIA, in collaboration with the CID, further beef security surrounding the process of Ghana Card acquisition.
The final possession should not be the end of the road. Where there is reasonable cause to challenge a person holding the Ghana Card, there should be a means of doing so.
Even the Ghana Passport is illegally being possessed by persons who do not qualify to do so. Such persons use sophisticated and subterfuge means to outwit processing officials to have their way.
Shouldn’t Ghanaians, those who do not appreciate the implications of their illegal facilitation of Ghana Card acquisition by foreigners, be educated to steer away from the act?
Perhaps the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE), using the media, has an added to-do-item on their plate of assignment.