Prof Ken Agyemang Attafuah
The Executive Secretary of the National Identification Authority (NIA), Prof Ken Agyemang Attafuah, has said that there is no reason why the authority cannot register the remaining number of Ghanaians ahead of the next elections in the country having so far in partnership with the Information Management Systems (IMS) registered 17 million citizens.
The NIA, he said, has the expertise to deliver on this assignment so that the Electoral Commission (EC) can use these data for its work.
He said this during an engagement with selected media persons in Accra last Friday to explain the workings of the NIA.
The NIA plays important socio-economic roles in the life of the nation, he said, explaining that the data assembled and stored by the authority help various state agencies in their work, pointing especially at the law enforcement agency and the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS).
The roles of the NIA, he said, go beyond the issuance of the citizenship identification card, saying that for most people when the agency is mentioned what comes to mind is the issuance of the Ghana Card.
The NIA in partnership with the IMS, headed by Moses Baiden, discharge critical functions necessary for the smooth running of the country.
The number of persons already registered their data safely in the electronic vaults of the authority attest to the capabilities of the authority.
The feat chalked so far has been generally described as wonderful considering the earlier reluctance by some Ghanaians who did not appreciate the importance of the programme even when a mass exercise in that direction was on.
The NIA besides its day to day management has a solid board made up which is responsible for policy direction of the authority. The board membership, according to the Executive Secretary, is drawn from cognate institutions such as the GRA, Ghana Immigration Service and others.
The NIA has commenced the registration of refugees in the country, one of the three segments of registrants. The categories are citizens, which is also called the ECOWAS citizenship card, the refugee cards and non-citizens.
The NIA as a corporate body established under the office of the President has the key task of creating a national identification system and managing a national database, two requirements in today’s digitised world.
The solid integrity attribute of the Ghana Card has been tested severally; those attempting to do double registration have been exposed by the system.
By A.R. Gomda