Government has indicated that commencing on March, 1, 2022, the Ghana Card will be used as an E-passport to serve as a digital identification for Ghanaians home and across borders when travelling.
Following the announcement, some Ghanaians and stakeholders have questioned how the new move can effectively function and have raised concerns as to how successful it will become. A section of Ghanaians shared their views on the initiative.
Joseph Opoku, a post graduate student of the University of Ghana sharing his thoughts on the new initiative stated that it was a good idea to aid in easy movement.
“In terms of the stress one has to go through with the use of the passport, if the Ghana card will shorten the process by simplifying things, then it’s good.”
Joseph Opoku
According to Joseph Opoku, government in implementing this must most importantly take data protection of citizens serious.
“This is because you merging the Ghana card to become the E-passport comes with its own consequences. People will try to tamper with the data of Ghanaians. So, government should consider this to protect Ghanaians.”
Joseph Opoku
Initiative might not be successful
Sharing his view with The Vaultz News, a graduate of the University of Ghana, Samuel Anim Addo, intimated that, he does not foresee the initiative becoming successful.
According to Anim Addo, passports have been officially recognized as the official document for traveling and he hasn’t seen or heard any of the advanced countries using their country’s card as an official document when travelling.
“When you are travelling, they need to stamp your passport with the visa. So, I don’t know how they are going to use the Ghana Card should incase one wants to travel outside especially with the visa approval.”
Samuel Anim Addo
Samuel Addo called for education on how the new initiative will work if truly that’s what will be used as a travel document hence forth.
Touching on data protection, he averred that government should focus mainly on that. He intimated that due to the complications locally with the various biometric registration and the merging of the Ghana card with others like SSNIT and sim registration, it should be of concern since one card is being used for numerous initiatives.
An event rental owner, Nii Quartey indicated that the Ghana card can perfectly replace the traditional passports. He posited that it is so because the card captures all the biometric data of Ghanaians and has more details than the passport.
“I believe government can perfectly replace the normal passport with Ghana card.”
Nii Quartey
Mr. Quartey suggested that a secured system has to be built to ensure that the data of Ghanaians are protected.
“The Ghana immigration service can work hand in hand with the International Civil Aviation Organization to create a system that will make sure that citizen’s biodata will be very secured. I think it is very important.”
Nii Quartey
Adding up to the contribution, Ruby Adjei, a healthcare Assistant in the United Kingdom intimated that there might be a possibility the new move will bring about complications in its usage. However, she averred that it should be given time.
“I think there would be a lot of complications hence it will need time to adapt.”
Nii Quartey
Read Also: Tunisia’s President Issues Decree to Create new Judiciary
