The Ghana Card is a national identity card that is issued by the Ghanaian authorities to Ghanaian citizens – both resident and non-resident, and legally and permanently resident foreign nationals.
The government has revealed that this new card will be so ‘powerful’ that it will be used to do almost everything that requires proof of identity including healthcare assessment.
Furthermore, Ghana Card will be used to authenticate one’s identity on a SIM card, passport acquisition, job search, education and a wide range of other things. As it stands now, by March 31, 2022, any SIM that has not been registered with the Ghana Card will be blocked from the system and it will become invalid.
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We understand people are expected to pay ₵250 for the premium service. However, some few centres have been opened providing free service for prospective clients. The National Identification Authority has announced the centres where everybody can go for Ghana Card for free.
The identity card is requested at the districts (and is issued for free to all Ghanaians) where a digital picture of the bearer’s face and fingerprints are taken. The card should be picked up in person after 15 days, where the bearer identifies himself/herself with his/her fingerprints.
The National Identification Authority has started an online process to issue Ghana Cards to individuals. This involves submitting the printed document at the NIA office. Barely 24 hours after the online registration took off, the NIA Shut down the registration site because their servers could not handle the number of requests coming in (Wikipedia).
See these centres in the infographic below;
