President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has reminded all stakeholders in the national identification registration exercise to continue to ensure the integrity, security and confidentiality of the data collected.
He stated that it was essential that the data collected was made available only to persons and institutions authorised by law to access it and used only for the purposes for which it was collected.
President Akufo-Addo gave the reminder when he visited the Intelligence Card Production Systems (ICPS) Ltd, a sub-division of Margins ID Group, in Accra yesterday.
The visit was to enable the President to familiarise himself with the operations of the company and how the partnership with the National Identification Authority (NIA) was progressing.
ICPS Ltd is a high security solutions provider and printer, a sub-contractor in the Public Private Partnership (PPP) between the NIA and the Identity Management System, a project which is being implemented to register and issue multi-application smartcards to Ghanaians in the country and abroad.
President Akufo-Addo noted that the deadline for the mass registration exercise had to be respected.
Benefits
He said the benefits of having the Ghana Card did not only include the establishment and proof of one’s identity or citizenship, but it also aided cardholders in the conduct of a wide range of financial, banking and insurance transactions and facilitated access to social, communication, education and healthcare services.
The President added that it would assist in the formalisation of the economy, which would enable the acceleration of economic development, adding that the advantages of the card were extensive.
Neglected years
Tracing the trajectory of the Ghana Card, the President said after years of wilful neglect and stagnation, it was gratifying that the project to roll out the national identity card was off the ground and as of January 8, 2020 some 6.5 million Ghanaians had been registered.
President Akufo-Addo said since the mass registration started on April 29 last year, 3. 7 million cards had been issued as against the issuance of 900,000 cards in the entire eight years of the Mills-Mahama era and attributed the current success story, partly, due to the contribution of ICPS.
He said he was excited about the company because Ghanaians owned majority shares in it and it had the ability to produce cards that would deliver integrated services to Ghanaians.
Private sector
President Akufo-Addo expressed excitement at what the company was doing which was further testimony of the importance of the strong functioning of the private sector and stated the government’s commitment to supporting and enhancing the capacity of Ghanaian companies and businesses to be giants in their areas of operation.
He said it was for that reason that in the last three years in office, his government had ensured that the microeconomic indices, which were moving in the wrong direction before 2017, had been put back on track, with some of the benefits seen in the reduction in interest rates.
Building blocks
President Akufo-Addo stated that all the achievements in the financial sector and the economic stability were only the building blocks on which the private sector would ride to drive progress and prosperity in the economy and therefore urged the sector to take the lead in the socio-economic transformation.
President Akufo-Addo gave an assurance that the government would continue to improve the business environment and offer the critical support needed for the private sector to survive and thrive.
He said his visit to the company had reinforced his conviction that it could be done and that the company was such an excellent example of what was possible.
ICPS
The Chief Executive Officer of ICPS, Mr Moses K. Baiden, used a reporter from The Ghanaian Chronicle, Mr Maxwell Ofori’s Ghana Card as a demonstration to indicate how impossible it was for the card to be duplicated.
He said the card had three profiles, including a passport profile which could be read worldwide, adding that it also had fingerprints and facial recognition.
