Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has said the government is leveraging technology to improve how things are done and to offer value to Ghanaians.
His comment follows the public lecture delivered by the Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia in which he highlighted how the administration is solving problems with technology.
The Ofoase Ayirebi lawmaker in a series of tweets said “Across various facets of the economy, the @NAkufoAddo administration is leveraging technology to improve how things are done and to offer value to Ghanaians. Thank you Vice President @MBawumia for making time to participate in the fireside conversation. #BawumiaSpeaks.”
“It is Digi time in Ghana and Vice President @MBawumia led the conversation on how Government is implementing a new system as a foundation to drive the digital transformation in Ghana. #BawumiaSpeaks.”
During the lecture at Ashesi University on Tuesday, November 2, Dr. Bawumia announced that from the first quarter of 2022, the Ghana Card will be globally recognized as an e-passport.
He indicated that the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) has duly accepted the usage of the cards as e-passport from the second quarter of 2022.
According to him, Wednesday, October 13, 2021, marked a milestone for Ghana as the country was officially received as the 79th member of ICAO.
He said with this move, the country’s major identification document produced by the National Identification Authority (NIA) will be allowed as a source of identification, in this case, an e-passport for international travels.
“This means that by the end of the first quarter next year, the Ghana Card will be recognized globally as an e-passport,” he stressed, adding: “When this happens, holders of the Ghana Card will be allowed to board any flight to Ghana.”
This means that the Ghanacard will be recognized as an e-passport and can be read and verified in all ICAO-compliant borders (in 197 countries and 44,000 airports in the world). When this happens, holders of the Ghana card will be allowed to board any flight to Ghana.
“Furthermore, the good news for diasporan Ghanaians is that when the Ghana Immigration Service is linked to the NIA architecture diasporan Ghanaians who hold the Ghanacard should not have to obtain visas to travel to Ghana. We expect this to be operational by the end of the first quarter of next year. Ghana is one of the few countries in the world where the national ID card is also an e-passport.”
