Does Ghanaian Need Identity Card ....

.... Now Or In The Near Future?

For sometime now the present and the past governments have been advancing reasons for the need to issue an identity card to Ghanaians. So far I have not seen any rigorous debate as to the merit and demerits of this all important national project. My observation is that most Ghanaian either does not care or consider carefully the implication for a government of a nation to tag each and every Ghanaian wherever they may be living. My inference from this attitude of my fellow Ghanaians is stemmed from the fact that most Ghanaians do not value or care about their privacy. May be we as a nation do not have the word privacy in our vocabulary hence the lukewarm attitude (or do I hear tacit indorsement) towards this decision by our government to intrude in to our daily life. So far the nature, appearance or format of the identity card has not been made public for anyone to either comment, object, approve or make any suggestion for its improvement.

I have been following the news for reasons advanced for the need for Ghanaian citizen to be issued with an identity card. The common or the most popular reason for wanting to make Ghanaians have an identity card is to either eliminate or reduce electoral fraud to the barest minimum. Much as I would agree to those reasons as legitimate reasons for an ID card, I do not prescribe to that idea as enough important reason to commit the vast resources of the taxpayer to achieve that end. My view is that even if the ID card is deemed by majority to be necessary for the reason so far advanced, I am not convinced that this is the right time. It is not the right time because I am of the opinion that there are more important things that the government has to do before any ID card, if at all we need one.

What would be the impact or the benefit of an identity card if the person holding it on the street for that matter any where in the world cannot be traced to a location or street address in Ghana? If one look around Ghana?s neighbourhood one would notice that there are vast and fine differences between the layout of Ghanaian buildings and roads vis-a-vis our neighbours. Any one who read this piece and is in doubt should travel to, or check it out in any of our neighbouring countries Togo, Benin, Ivory Coast, Bu kina Faso or even Nigeria, just to mention a few, which had her independent with Ghana around the same time from the same colonial master has an addressing system far superior to that of Ghana. This our neighbours not only make their cities well laid and demarcated for ease of communication but the same rules applied to their villages or country side as well and it is rigidly enforced religiously.

While one can give a parcel to a friend or a courier either inside or outside Ghana to be delivered to ones friend or relative in any of our neighbouring countries and it would be delivered with ease, given the same parcel to be delivered to a person in Ghana it always turn out to be a Herculean task if not impossibility. I am always embarrassed whenever I am asked or asked a friend to deliver an item to relatives or loved ones. I believe most Ghanaian will bear me out that one has to resort to describing the location where the person is living using land- marks and other objects to enable the courier to deliver your item. Sometime if a friend or relative is working in the ministries or a well known organisation then that person would become the convenient way to deliver the parcel to ones loved ones.

Come next year March Ghana will be celebrating her 50th Independence Anniversary. What can Ghana boast off, nothing, absolutely nothing. Ghana who claimed to be the first to have got Independence is seriously lagging behind when it comes to development of the country as compared to our neighbours such as Ivory Coast and Nigeria. The only thing since I have grown to note which Ghanaians are very good at is ?big mouth? that is bragging at the top of their voices. It is even louder if the person happened to have command over the English language. As if proficiency in a foreign language is passport to all our needs and wants. This English language issue will be another topic in the future.

If the government is serious about this ID card business, for which there has not been any contrary suggestion for me to believe otherwise, it is my humble submission that the first thing the government has to tackle is the issue of redevelopment of Accra-Tema and Kumasi. I call on the government to find enough funds to begin the redevelopment of the two cities. I am of the opinion that if the Government has drawn well thought out plan and strategy the international community and the donor countries would be willing to assist. The reason why the international community would like to fund this kind of project is that because of its impact on the whole Ghanaian population. It would create a massive employment and it would produce a profound multiplier effect. The only negative of the project would be temporary displacement of some people but in the long term those displaced people would become comfortable than what they are currently enjoying because they would be housed in better accommodations.

It is also my humble submission that immediate source of fund should be to put on hold the ID project and the fund earmarked should be used and the 30 million dollars loan from India for the Peduase Lodge rehabilitation to become seed money as the lodge development would be incorporated into the larger plan for the whole country.

The redevelopment plan I am advocating here is rebuilding the two cities to equivalent standard modern cities in the west with all infrastructures in place. The second phase of the project is to spread redevelopment later to cover the rest of the country. Luckily in Accra and Kumasi not every suburb has to be redeveloped, but places like Accra Newtown Pig Farm, Chorkor, Labadi, Nungua, just to mention a few all in Accra; Suntresu , North Suntresu, Anlokrom, just to mention a few, all in Kumasi. I am aware that these two cities and the rest of the countries have master plans gathering dust in the various Planning Departments. These master plans should be dusted and implemented and the spirit and letter of the plans enforced.

It is my belief that after the completion of these projects before we can be discussing the possibility of an ID card. The additional advantages of this project are so many which could not be enumerated in full here. Suffice to say that if these projects are successfully undertaken it would be possible to at least identify between 90% - 95% of Ghanaians to a location or street address. Birth Certificates, driving licence, bank cards or pass books, student identity cards, hospital attendance cards, etc., would be issued to individuals using their home or street addresses. All these various cards and certificates would constitute an ID cards as it pertains in most western countries. Only those without those IDs would be issued an ID cards. As majority if not everyone on the country would be having one form of ID or another this would help greatly in crime fighting by the police. It would reduce if not stop the police ceasing drivers licence in the event of traffic offence by drivers resulting in bribery before release of those licences. It would also help mail and courier work. All in all it would be the impetus the Ghanaian economy needs and it is my belief that that kind of project would affect every corner of the country possibly everyone living in Ghana.

Sometime I wonder if the ruling class has ever travelled outside Ghana. But from the available information most of the Ghanaian elites have travelled widely and have seen how other countries have developed and are still improving on their developmental efforts. While the Western world are making big stride in their developmental efforts we in Africa in general and Ghana in particular are striding fast backward. We hardly debate issues. Where issues are put forward for a debate we do not know how to debate, consequently we do not know when the debate should come to an end and as result we are unable to sieve the grains out the chaff from the debate.

In conclusion should the government decide to implement my suggestions, on completion of the redevelopment projects all the streets should be renamed and numbered on the model in Nigeria or Australia as these two countries methods of naming and numbering is so simple even unlettered can also find it easy to use.