Ghana Card Is Useful – Gen. Mosquito

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) says it has no doubts about the usefulness of the Ghana Card and recognizes it as a vital developmental tool.

Johnson Asiedu-Nketia, the General Secretary of the party said their worry was however with the manner the government was going about the registration and issuance of the Cards and that if care was not taken there could be confusion.

“If the Ghana Card is not managed as a national project, it will bring confusion and disaster to the nation”.

Asiedu-Nketia also known as General Mosquito was addressing NDC faithful from the Obuasi East and Obuasi West Constituencies after unity walk in the Obuasi.

Mr. Asiedu-Nketia criticized the reliance on the use passport and a birth certificate as the only primary documents for the Card registration.

They would continue to insist that the project was properly managed to better serve the national interest.

General Mosquito’s seeming support for the Ghana Card comes just two months after the party’s minority members in parliament had boycotted the registration exercise for Parliament citing legal, procurement and cost concerns.

In a statement, Haruna Iddrisu, the Minority leader and Tamale South MP said the National Identification Authority (NIA) has not been honest with the Ghanaian people over the cost of the project with two figures – $1.4billion and $293 million, – according to reports.

“We are also aware that despite the provision of Government support by the Akufo Addo government in respect of revenue projections for the project, this has not been brought to Parliament for approval in accordance with Ghanaian Law”

The statement added: “Furthermore, we remain opposed to the restriction of identification requirements for registration to Passports and Birth Certificates. Our analysis show that this will prevent about 23 million Ghanaians from obtaining the Ghana Card and deprive them of any benefit thereof.”

In the view of the party, there are also grave concerns about potential breaches of Procurement laws and processes.