The National Identification Authority (NIA) has maintained that the government has outstanding arrears of approximately $80 million owed to the Authority for the production of Ghana Cards.

According to the Executive Secretary of the Authority, Professor Kenneth Agyemang Attafuah, the government has not fully settled these outstanding payments.

Early on this year, some partners of NIA including Identity Management Systems, withheld over 3.5 million cards due to the government's failure to clear its debts.

Although a payment of 100 million cedis by the Finance Minister led to the release of these cards, the accumulation of debt including interest over the past six months is threatening the registration process.

On the back of this, Prof Attafuah emphasised, "The government of Ghana owes us approximately $80 million, and this is still in USD, so it's a significant sum of money that the government needs to pay."

He also noted that the debt had initially been around $90 million and had increased due to additional arrears, which were part of a government support agreement.

“Government of Ghana was so convinced about the viability of this project and it is still extremely viable that it undertook to basically underwrite any revenues that should have gone to the private partner for any given month if the project doesn't generate revenue,” he said.

The Electoral Commission (EC) is also planning a mass voter registration exercise for next year in preparation for the 2024 general election.

A proposed Constitutional Instrument (C.I) is seeking to rely solely on the Ghana Card as the primary means of identification.

To this end, Prof. Attafuah stated that the NIA possesses reliable data that can aid the EC in conducting a credible registration exercise.

He explained, "With a click of a button, NIA can provide that data to EC. There's no debate about that. The technical systems and arrangements required for this have all been agreed upon, so there's no issue. We've successfully collaborated with SSNIT, NHIA, Controller, and numerous other institutions without any problems."

Additionally, the Executive Secretary of NIA revealed that the Authority, in collaboration with the Births and Deaths Registry, would begin issuing Ghana Cards to newborn babies following a successful pilot programme.

He explained that at birth, babies are assigned a unique serial number by the Births and Deaths Registry, linking their birth certificate to the Ghana Card.

Prof Attafuah clarified that this initiative aims to eliminate controversies surrounding citizenship, age, and identity management issues in Ghana.

“We'll be protecting the boundaries, policing the boundaries of Ghanaian citizenship. We will evade forever the issues of age,” he said.