National Identification Authority (NIA) boss Ken Attafuah has said that the Ghana card will soon replace a passport when one decides to travel anywhere across the globe.
According to him, the NIA has begun talks with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Information Technology Agency (NITA) to get two separate certifications to make the move to the Ghana Card a reality.
He made this pronouncement during an interview with Accra based radio station.
“We had a beautiful meeting with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs last Friday. We are talking about the modalities for getting two things done.
“One is the onboarding of the passport, data integration with the Passport Office, and also even how you get to use the Ghana Card to travel. “I indicated that the Ghana Card is a powerful tool. It already has an electronic passport on it which is valid for travel within West Africa.”
Attafuah added: “The conversation we had with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and NITA is to get the appropriate certification and International Standardisation Organisation certification and the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) certification, so that the Ghana Card itself can be a valid passport for travel to Europe, the American countries.”
He also revealed that his authority is poised to begin registration of Ghanaians abroad for the Ghana Card. “There are about 55 … Ghanaian missions abroad. We are going to work with the missions to register through the ministry to register Ghanaians abroad.
“We are going to do so using staff, as we are required by the laws of these missions.
“So we will train them, provide the equipment, and they will carry on with the business of registering Ghanaians abroad,” Attafuah affirmed.
Source: Mybrytfmonline/Joseph Asare
