China is the nation where the most non-citizen national identity cards are issued, according to the National Identification Authority (NIA) (Ghana cards).
In response to a query from the Ghana News Agency, Professor Kenneth Agyemang Attafuah, Executive Secretary, NIA, made this statement at a press conference in Accra on Friday to commemorate this year's International Identity Day.
This is in light of the current controversy surrounding the re-entry into the nation of Huang En, also known as Aisha Huang, a Chinese citizen with a non-citizen card who was expelled in 2018 due to allegations of illicit mining.
With a total of 34,712 cards granted to its nationals, or 22 percent of the 161,007 citizens from 202 foreign nations, China has the most citizens with non-citizen Ghana cards.
With a total of 25,873 cards, Nigerians were the second-largest group of holders of non-citizen Ghana cards, after Indian citizens (20,110).
Germany received 4,329 cards, followed by Lebanon (4,324), the United Kingdom (4,133), South Africa (3,194), Cote D'lvoire (2,222), and Gabon (1,958), according to NIA statistics.
As of September 15, 2022, a total of 17,163,081 persons had been enrolled on the NIA system, with 16,627,326 cards produced and 15,869,026 cards issued, according to Prof Attafuah, who provided an update on the number of cards issued throughout the nation thus far.
The Authority, according to the Executive Secretary, has put in place a reliable mechanism to check all cards used by Ghanaians to conduct banking transactions with banks and to check non-citizens who would use the card to establish or renew a bank account, apply for a residency permit, or both.
Prof. Attafuah urged African nations to step up efforts to guarantee that citizens had legal identities in honour of International Identity Day in order to promote social, economic, and political inclusion.
He asserted that the nation will take no chances in making the Ghana card "the sole source of evidence," stating that the Authority had, as of January 2021, instituted a verification mechanism that required banks to confirm the identity of cardholders for a variety of transactions.
“With this verification system, if you go to the bank with or without your Ghana card, with your fingerprint, the bank is able to verify your identity as part of KYC (Know Your Customer) and give you a service,” Prof Attafuah noted.