The Chairman of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), Professor Kwesi Botchwey, has cited the separate collation of biometric data by various organisations as the impediment to achieving an integrated national identification (ID) system.

These organisations, he stated, are quick to procure all kinds of software to produce ID cards rather than putting their efforts to the attainment of an inte­grated national identification system.

He maintained that such actions only lead to duplications and overlap­ping of information of registrants, which leads to a mix up of information.

“You cannot have 10 different or­ganisations collating the biometric data of the same group of people. It would simply not sit down well,” he stressed.

At a consultative meeting to accel­erate the establishment of an integrated national identification system for the long-term national development of Ghana, Dr Botchwey mentioned that such a system is one of the key require­ments for the successful implementa­tion of the plan which aims to transform Ghana from a lower middle income country to a higher income one between 2018 and 2057.

Efforts to develop a comprehensive system since 2003, according to him, have, so far, proven futile, adding that at the heart of the problem is the com­mercial interests of various vendors.

The meeting sought to understand the reasons for the undue delay in the implementation of a comprehensive na­tional ID by 2018.

“We want a system that is naturally accepted. Our plan is to form a task team that would continue the technical discussions and in-depth review of cur­rent systems,” Mr Botchwey stressed.

Representatives of different institu­tions, including the National Identifica­tion Authority (NIA), Controller and Accountant General’s Department, Household Authority, Drivers’ and Ve­hicle Licensing Authority and the Im­migration Service, among others, were present to share their views on the issue.

Ȼ21m Invested in NIA already

So far, Ghana has spent about È»21 million on the mass registration and card distribution exercises, and in­stead of getting it right, state institutions such as the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), Passport Office and the Controller and Accountant General’s Department have spent millions on their own biometric data capture, a complete duplication of duty and waste of money.

Currently, only about 900,000 peo­ple, out of the 15 million whose data were collected in the last national regis­tration exercise, have been supplied with their national ID cards.

Of the 15 million people whose data were collected, only 9 million were in­putted into the database, with only 4.5 million being completed and 2.7 mil­lion national identity cards printed.

NIA/IMS PPP partnership

According to NIA, technological changes within the last four years ne­cessitated that data collected in the last national registration exercise be up­dated, and the NIA in 2012 signed a public-private partnership (PPP) with Identity Management Sys­tem (IMS) Limited for a pilot project to register eli­gible foreign nationals liv­ing in Ghana.

Based on the success of the pilot project, the NIA expanded the PPP to cover about 15 million Ghanaians.

In readiness to issue in­stant ID cards to Ghana­ians, Intelligent Card Production Systems (ICPS), an ISO-certified full service card manufac­turing facility from card fabrication to fulfilment, was expanded.

ICPS produced the in­stant cards under the Iden­tification Management Systems (IMS) Limited for a pilot project to register el­igible foreign nationals liv­ing in Ghana under a public-private partnership (PPP).

The new national ID card project “is an instant issuance system that elimi­nates the cost and chal­lenges associated with card distribution.”

The system also takes care of the data needs of all stakeholders, including all 10 fingerprints, and would also capture the face and iris, as well as other bio­metric traits to enhance the security and integrity of the National Identification Sys­tem.

Additionally, the Ghana card has been de­signed to assist persons with visual challenges to be able to use it, using a tactile feature on the card.

The expanded scope, to­gether with the specifica­tions of the system, will enable the NIA to meet the biometric data require­ments of all the user agen­cies.

ICPS boasts of ultra­modern factory and capac­ity, hosting the expanded AFIS and central site of NIA, which has been devel­oped jointly with Dermalog of Germany, a leader in bio­metric, together with IDFG of Denmark.

The central site has the capacity to store 400 mil­lion fingerprints, 80 million faces and 80 million irises, and it is the most advanced biometric system in the country to date.

The system is designed to store all the current NIA data, enabling nationals to update their already collected data in the first registration or submit new data if not registered, to achieve NIA’s mandate to be the primary referential data­base connecting the alphanumeric data and biometrics of all nationals to a unique NIA pin number from cradle to grave, to be used by all stakeholders.