The inexplicable agenda of the Akufo Addo administration to make the Ghana Card the only transactional ID in the country is to force the banking sector to only admit the controversial card for transactions.
In its latest order, the Bank of Ghana (BoG) has directed all financial institutions in the country to update the records of all customers using the Ghana card, serving notice that from 1st July 2022, the Ghana Card will be the only legitimate ID card for all financial transactions.
This directive essentially makes the Ghanaians Passport and other forms of official identification irrelevant despite the fact that the Ghana card is one of the major requirements for acquiring these other forms of identification.
The craze for having the Ghana card as the only form of identification in Ghana has drawn widespread criticisms because of the hassle required to acquire the cards and the fact that it is not synchronised with other forms of identification.
However, the BoG said In furtherance of its objective of ensuring the safety of the financial system, it has directed that with effect from 1st July 2022, the Ghana Card shall be the only identification card that will be used to undertake transactions at all Bank of Ghana licensed and regulated financial institutions including Banks; Specialised Deposit-Taking Institutions; Non-Deposit-Taking Financial Institutions; Payment Service Providers and Dedicated Electronic Money Issuers; Forex Bureaus and Credit Reference Bureaus.
“In line with this Notice, Section 30 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2020 (Act 1044) and Regulation 12 of the Anti-Money Laundering Regulations, 2011 (L.I. 1987), all financial institutions shall take steps to update customer records with the Ghana Card,” the BoG statement said.
Again, like in the case of the mobile SIM re-registration, customers of banks are the ones given the burden to go and queue to ensure they are re-registered with the Ghana card.
“Customers of Bank of Ghana regulated financial institutions are therefore advised to update their records with their respective financial institutions with the Ghana Card in line with this Notice,” the BoG stated.
This is in spite of the National Identification Authority (NIA) having the biometric data of Ghanaians.
The BoG added that it will integrate the NIA’s transaction verification platform into its own financial monitoring platform as part of the new records administration. “This is to ensure that all financial transactions performed within the ecosystem are linked to one identity and information, and unique codes for the transactions shared with the Bank of Ghana (BoG) to facilitate the identification of initiators/beneficiaries for track and trace purposes. This will include but not limited to transactions by i. Banks; ii. Non-bank Financial Institutions; and iii. Mobile Money Operators (MMOs),’’ the regulator stated.