The Executive Secretary of the National Identification Authority (NIA), Wisdom Kwaku Deku, has disclosed that the first batch of Ghana Cards was issued in 2009 under the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government.
Speaking on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen show, Mr Deku explained that by 2015, the government had entered into negotiations with private partners to expand the system to cover the entire population.
According to him, the delay in rolling out the new system was largely due to challenges with generating Personal Identification Numbers (PINs).
He noted that since cards had already been issued in 2009, it was necessary to maintain the same PINs for continuity.
“In 2015, the government started negotiations with private partners to expand the system to cover all Ghanaians. We completed the factory acceptance test, but the delay stemmed from obtaining the PINs. In 2009, we had already issued some cards to individuals in Ghana, who were actively using them.
“Therefore, when introducing a new vendor, we needed to avoid generating new PINs for those users. This was important because we wanted to maintain the same PINs while transitioning to a new system. However, we encountered issues because we were in debt, which meant we weren’t provided with the system’s algorithm needed for this process,” he said.
Mr Deku added that financial constraints and the requirement for the IMF to approve the system’s algorithm further contributed to the delay.
He stressed that both Ghanaians who received cards in 2009 and those with the current cards share the same PINs, highlighting the system’s continuity.
“It took considerable time for the IMF to review the system and obtain the algorithm to generate the PINs. As a result, individuals who received cards in 2009, as well as those who received current cards, have the same PIN,” he explained.
Source: Faridatu Seidu | Adomonline
READ ALSO:
