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Ghana to issue national ID cards by September

Xinhua, May 16, 2017 Adjust font size:

Ghana's Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia said here late Monday that Ghana has started the process to issue national identification cards to nationals beginning from September this year.

He said the national ID scheme will help formalize the economy and rake in revenue for government through the establishment of a national database with the ID system as the primary source.

Bawumia was addressing a maiden national policy summit in Accra.

The two-day summit assembled captains of industries, government officials, the diplomatic community as well as civil society organizations, to dialogue on key government policies and programs and solicits feedback from the public.

There has been so much talk about the issue of national ID cards but very little effective action or results have been achieved even though reports indicate about 50 million U.S. dollars has been spent on the project since 2009.

In addition to the national ID, the government plans to implement a national digital address mapping system by July this year to harmonize all such systems into a single data resource to aid national planning and economic development.

"Digital address mapping system will make sure that every place that we have in Ghana will have a unique GPS code, a post code and we can identify uniquely where every place is and deliver goods and services to those addresses," he said.

Ghana was last mapped in 1974 and lacks an efficient addressing system which has become a serious impediment to the country's development.

The Minister for Finance Ken Ofori-Atta said his outfit will ensure macro stability through sound and prudent fiscal policy management guided by the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA).

The PFMA seeks to regulate the financial management of the public sector by defining the responsibilities of persons entrusted with the management and control of public funds, assets, liabilities and resources to ensure that public funds are sustainable and consistent with the level of public debt. Endit