The propaganda which was let loose when Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia spoke about the Ghana Card becoming a future travel document, an electronic passport in future, is worth recalling.
On November 8, NDC apologists berated the project claiming it was impossible. The Vice President, for them, could not achieve that goal of elevating the Ghana Card to the notch of an electronic passport.
Yesterday, however, the social and mainstream media were awash with stories about the Ghana Card transforming into an E-Passport and valid for 44,000 airports worldwide.
Only those bewitched or on an outright mischievous enterprise will deny the quantum of strides made by the Vice President in the realm of digitisation.
Crestfallen that at long last, what for them was impossible has come to fruition, all they can do is shut up. Expressing remorse for their initial position is something they would not do because that is not in their moral DNA.
We can only salute the originator of the project and ask that more education be carried out for many of our compatriots so they may avail themselves of the novelty.
Being a new product, whose possibilities we are yet to grasp, it is worth for instance acknowledging the fact, with the Ghana Card returning to Ghana for citizens who lose their passports abroad or have expired travel documents, the Ghana Card comes in handy. It would allow the citizen entry at the port of entry.
Unfortunately, the restricted yet critical roles the Ghana Card will play for traveling Ghanaians has become a subject of misinformation even among educated persons who should know better. Nobody is saying the Ghana Card can be presented at the US Embassy for persons seeking visas. It is an electronic passport because of its acceptance as a document performing some aspects of the roles of a standard passport. American citizens who lose their passport in foreign countries can return to the US using their green cards.
The Ghana Card obviates the inconveniences associated with seeking a fresh travel document at our foreign missions abroad which are often choked with requests for replacement travel passes.
The endorsement of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) for the Ghana Card at their Montreal, Canada base should be relished by Ghanaians who are not filled with political envy which closes their eyes to the nation’s progress.
The Vice President could not have avoided penning a few words about what how the journey to today has been as we celebrate this phenomenal stride.
His remarks shortly after the celebration are as eye-opening as they are interesting. His remark that impossibilities can be reversed as in the case of the transformation of the Ghana Card is outstanding and worthy of learning from.
Perhaps had he been daunted by the negative comments from the NDC camp, he would have given up midway of the project.
He persevered and here we are today credited with a multipurpose Ghana Card, interoperable money transfer service via mobile networks and a gradual trip towards a cashless society, among others.
Shouldn’t our Vice President be celebrated and the noisy makers, killjoys be shunned even as they organise senseless demonstrations? Sure, we must and continue to support development in freedom.