The Member of Parliament for Ningo-Prampram, Sam Nartey George, has said that he does not have a Ghana Card.
He said that he has not found the need to have one yet although the card has become one of the only cards used in a lot of transactions in the country, thanks to the digitalization drive by the government.
The initiative is being spearheaded by the Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, with support from other major institutions like the Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation, led by Ursula Owusu-Ekuful.
Already, there is an ongoing national campaign by the government to have all SIM cards re-registered using the Ghana Card but not even that would make the Ningo-Prampram MP go for his.
He said that while Ghanaians are heeding the call of the government in this regard, it is only because they are afraid, which is not a thing with him.
“Yes, people are queuing up to get their Ghana Cards because they are scared about the minister’s threat. I don’t even have a Ghana Card to start with. Why should I? I’m not saying it’s wrong but maybe someday in the future, I may go and get a Ghana Card but first of all, the queues are one problem, but as in the process we’ve gone through with the Ghana Card, again, the Ghana Card is a creation of another legislation, L.I. 2111 of 2011 and that law is being misinterpreted by a lot of state institutions,” he said.
Sam Nartey George further explained why he has not made any attempts to acquire the Ghana Card, adding that no one in the current government can deactivate anybody’s number for not synchronizing with the card.
“Let me read: Section 7 of L.I. 2111 talks about mandatory use of National Identity Card: A national ID card issued to an individual shall be used for the following transactions where identification is required… Now, it does not say ‘shall be the only card.’ It says, ‘shall be used.’
“So yes, you can use a Ghana Card but it should not preclude me from using any other card and it goes on to list about what, 14 instances including payment of taxes, registration of SIM cards, opening of bank accounts… Let me tell you that the minister’s threat of SIM cards being deactivated by end of March this year is hot air; it won’t happen in this country. There’s no legal basis for it: Ghana is not a Banana Republic,” he said.
