Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia has said the International Civil Aviation Organisation-certified Ghana card, is far better than any passport.

Speaking at the 2022 Civil Service Awards on 29 July 2022, at which he justified his earlier comment that he would prefer the Ghana card to 1,000 interchanges, Dr Bawumia said: “We, also, have done something that many man countries have not done with the Ghana card: We engaged ICAO – the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s headquarters in Canada on how to make the Ghana card a travel document”.

“This has generated a lot of controversy because people cannot really think and see how this card can be a travel document”, he observed.

“Well, at least, we have to halves – either you travel out or you travel in. We have gone through ICAO certification for the Ghana card and it has met all the requirements; in fact, it is more advanced than all the passports that we are carrying; much more advanced”, he asserted

“So, the Ghana card has gone through ICAO certification and you can use it to travel into Ghana”, he reiterated.

“We’ve informed all the airports in the world [and] all the airlines that if somebody loses their passport while they are abroad, for example, and they need to travel to Ghana, once the plane is coming to Ghana, they present their Ghana card, they’ll be allowed to board and come to Ghana and that is already a system that is working”, he stressed.

“So, if you go to Kotoka [International Airport] now, at [the] Immigration [unit], there’s a line for Ghana card holders and it is working even though people [doubt it]”.

The Ghana card is a valid verification document issued by the National Identification Authority (NIA) to Ghanaians and resident foreign nationals living everywhere for the purpose of identification.

The card bears personal information about the individuals whose identity can be verified at all times. The NIA National Identity System utilises three types of biometric technology for identification purposes.

These are the fingerprints unique to each individual in the form of digitised templates, and facial templates in the form of a digitised colour photo of the cardholder and the iris.

The card contains basic identification information including a photograph of the cardholder, along with a name, date of birth, height, and a personal identification number that has been randomly generated and assigned to the holder and has an expiry date.