9.2 million people registered for Ghana Card – Akufo-Addo

President Akufo-Addo has disclosed that some 9.2 million people have so far been registered as at the end last week under the the National Identification Authority’s (NIA) mass registration and issuance of identification cards known as the ‘Ghana Card’.

This follows an initial total of 7.3 million (7,310,193) people registered and some 4.2 million (4,262,471) cards issued to eligible Ghanaians nationwide.

According to the NIA, the registration exercise has so far resulted in 6.2 million (6,282,192) cards printed with a backlog of 565,030 cards expected to be issued with 416,000 awaiting distribution due to some various discrepancy challenges.

The President speaking at the State of the Nation Address before parliament yesterday said Ghana will have a fully working National Identification System by the end of this year as parts of efforts by his administration to modernize and digitize the economy.

“Mr. Speaker, as part of our strategy to modernize the economy, deliver government services efficiently, and curb corruption, Government has over the last three years embarked on a major program of digitization of the economy with significant success. As at the end of last week, 9.2 million people have been registered for the National ID card, the Ghana card. Before the end of this year, Ghana will have a fully working national ID system, which will be a game-changer for our nation,” Akufo-Addo said.

The Executive Director of the NIA, Prof. Ken Attafuah earlier said his outfit is well poised to deliver data to the Electoral Commission (EC) following its decision to compile a new voter register for the upcoming 2020 polls.

“The NIA is poised to deliver data to the Electoral Commission for the new voters' register with its invigorated capacity and the mass registering exercise scheduled to end by March 2020, and when that is over, we will use the equipment’s and personnel to set up permanent NIA offices in regions, municipalities and districts across the country,” he earlier explained.

Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia on February 10 said government will by the end of this year, convert all National Identification Numbers to Tax Identification Numbers, to increase the taxpaying population.

According to him, the move is expected to increase the tax population by some already existing 2 million registered taxpayers to 16 million registered taxpayers.