“Exciting times are ahead of us”, proclaims the new Acting Executive Secretary of NIA, Wisdom Kwaku Deku, aka Yayra Koku in a recent Facebook post. Yayra envisions the list below, among others, as constituting key innovations he’s bringing soon into your life:
1. Linking your Ghana Card to your MoMo and bank accounts …
2. Getting your missing Ghana Card replaced instantly in a booth after providing your fingerprint.
3. Using your Ghana Card as your driver’s license, eliminating the need to visit the DVLA.
4. Applying for a passport from the comfort of your home with your Ghana Card.
5. Booking your Ghana Card appointment online …
6. Linking your Ghana Card to toll booth apps for seamless payments …
Bottom line: Yayra wants to introduce innovations to create more comfort and convenience for the public using the Ghana Card. And that’s great. Problem is, innovation implies novelty, newness, originality, notable enhancement, or departure from the usual.
There are two levels of analysis here. First, the “innovative” ideas birthing the “exciting times” ahead. Second, the card technology on which the “innovations” will ride.
With respect to the first, there’s absolutely nothing in Yayra’s vision and imaginations that’s new or capable of generating the “excitement” he envisions.
If only Yayra had paid attention to the evolution of the Ghana Card since the NDC left office in January 2017; if only Yayra had engaged with relevant stakeholders and acquainted himself with the Handing-Over Notes from his predecessor, the mature and learned Prof. Kenneth Agyemang Attafuah, Esq., he would have realized that NONE of his so-called “innovations” is new at all.
As Personal Assistant to the distinguished, seasoned and meticulous Prof. Ken Attafuah, I can say with a high level of certainty that Yayra has not yet perused the Prof’s Handing Over Notes, or engaged meaningfully with those at NIA who know better and can advise him. Yayra’s post under reference, and a couple of others before it, seek to belittle or undermine the work done by his predecessor over the last 8 years, and to discredit the good old professor. Well, it is not easy to step into the shoes of an experienced and accomplished public administrator like Prof. Attafuah, who was recognised in 2006 by the United Nations as a management, governance and leadership expert of international distinction and repute. So it is understandable, in these circumstances, that Yayra may be feeling the unbearable weight of pressure to show his political masters and cheer-mongers that he is working.
The things Yayra imagines as new have been done already, or are at advanced stages of incubation for implementation, or have been assessed. and discarded for well-considered and compelling reasons, including equipment safety, unwarranted risks, and prohibitive cost of procuring and installing around the country, secure booths for biometric data capture, card printing and card issuance, against proper value-for-money considerations.
Compare, instead, with our plan of installing the requisite data capture equipment, card issuance stations, printers and ancillary facilities in contracting institutions such as banks, universities and worship centres, whose staff will be trained and supervised by NIA to perform the specified tasks. NIA already has the equipment for this purpose. This plan is already in the offing.
Implementing a Convenient Payment System Using the Ghana Card
In 2018, NIA and its technical partner, Identity Management Systems II Limited (IMS II), introduced significant innovations to the National Identification System (NIS) and the Ghana Card. The technical protocols and systems already implemented on the card make it possible for it to be used as a payment platform. The 148-kb capacity chip embedded on the card has 14 loadable applets, one of which can be used as a Visa card or Master card, where money can be credited or debited onto the card. Again, the prospect of using the Ghana Card as a bank card has been considered by NIA and IMS II since 2018, and this can be quite easily done because the architecture for it already exists on the card. Simply put, by design, the Ghana Card can be used as a bank card. Indeed, VISA and Mastercard have engaged NIA separately on this issue. Several banks have also approached NIA wanting to use the Ghana Card as their bank card, a fact which has been publicly stated on many occasions by NIA’s former Executive Secretary, Prof. Ken Attafuah. This would be akin to the use of the Ghana Card by the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) which essentially piggybacks on the Ghana Card, without producing and issuing its own card, thereby saving the state huge amounts of money each year. SSNIT and GRA are in the same domain.
It must be remarked that the design specification for the Ghana Card was done with the future in perspective. This took account of NIA’s legal framework and the data needs and requirements of NIA’s key stakeholders. The ultimate outcomes are cost savings in terms of having a central system instead of multiple silos, reduced maintenance costs, periodic technology upgrade costs and workforce costs. Accordingly, the plan was to get government agencies that collect identity data and issue ID cards to ride on the technology provisions of the Ghana Card. Hence the huge chip capacity (148-kb) on the Ghana Card. The statutory agencies include DVLA, NHIA, SSNIT, EC, GRA and Passport Office. The Ghana Card was designed to be a multipurpose, one-stop-shop card for all. Thus, the card has the following applets, among others:
1. e-gate, with such use cases as border control, airport, immigration, toll booth, access and attendance control);
2. e-iD, with such use cases as online transactions, electronic/digital signature for the safe transfer of documents online, as a security token or electronic key to secure financial transactions, Momo, online banking, etc.
3. e-passport, with such use cases as linking of passport and travelling history);
4. e-payment, with such use cases as fintechs, electronic payment, etc.
These use cases cannot be Yayraʻs novelties in 2025 because the technology and platform have already been provisioned on the Ghana Card since 2018 when NIA migrated from the 2D bar code of 2012 to the chip-embedded, smart, multi-purpose, dual-interface card with a tracking number and top-notch security features that meet the highest global standards and ISO certification.
Again, it bears repeating that several of the “innovations” imagined by Yayra have already even been implemented by NIA and IMS II, while the remainder were in different stages of implementation or consideration prior to the exit of Prof. Attafuah on retirement in mid-November 2024. Thus, for instance, the NIA Premium Registration Centres are designed to operate on an appointment basis, but most applicants rather throng the centres without first booking appointments, and NIA, as a responsive state institution, has had to improvise in order to accommodate such applicants.
In short then, NIA already has the necessary infrastructure to integrate any institution or organization for verification and the use of the Ghana Card. Currently, the National Identification System (NIS) is integrated with nearly all government agencies, including:
1. NHIA
2. SSNIT
3. Ghana Revenue Authority
(GRA)
4. Passport Office
5. DVLA
6. Lands Commission
7. Bank of Ghana (BoG)
8. Birth and Death Registry
9. Ghana Health Service
10. Ghana Post
11. National Service Secretariat
12. Office of the Registrar of Companies
13. Youth Employment Agency
14. Controller and Accountant General’s Department
Additionally, the system is integrated for transaction verification with all financial institutions, including the Bank of Ghana and 24 other universal banks, all 250 rural banks and loans companies, all 16 Fintechs, insurance companies, and all telecommunications service providers in Ghana.
Verification Methods
The NIS supports multiple verification methods, including:
One-to-One Verification
1. PIN & Fingerprint
2. PIN & Facial Recognition
3. Fingerprint-Only (without Ghana Card PIN)
One-to-Many Verification
Matching an individual’s biometric data against a larger dataset for identity validation.
With specific reference to the e-payment app, it must be reiterated that several banks have expressed interest in collaborating with NIA and IMS II for the implementation of this business proposition. The existing infrastructure is designed to scale and enhance verification processes, further strengthening the adoption and usage of the Ghana Card. As with the e-gate facility on the Ghana Card which was inaugurated by the Vice President in late 2024, the requisite technical protocols and payment mechanism were provisioned on the Ghana Card for electronic payment of road tolls way back in 2018!
Ultimately, NIA’s work is about building a trusted society through digital identity for all. So far, with our trustworthy verification system platform, we have conducted over 120 million verifications without a single hitch or failure since January 2021.This security practice is anchored in the wise old saying: trust but verify.
Nous sommes prêts”. We are ready. The motto of Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia, where the exceptional and ebullient Prof. Ken Attafuah and Vice President Alhaji Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia schooled for their doctorate degrees in Criminology and Economics respectively in the early 1990s. ”
NIA … Providing future Solutions Now! The motto of the National Identification Authority, which Yayra Deku now heads.
Welcome aboard, Yayra. The difficult job at NIA is done. Yours is to steer the moving train. Yet, you will need all the wisdom you can garner. Slow down and learn, otherwise, wo ho be yra wo do do. This is 2025, not 2012! Leadership in a hurry, without appropriate compasses, is leadership heading for an ignominous crash!
Hassan Adam Yarima, the author was the P. A to Prof. Kenneth Agyemang Attafuah, Esq.
