In total, Chinese nationals have had 34,712 non-citizen Ghana cards issued to them, representing 22 per cent of the total 161,007 cards issued to citizens from 202 other foreign countries.

The Executive Secretary of the National Identification Authority, Professor Kenneth Agyemang Attafuah, disclosed this last Friday at a press briefing in Accra to mark this year's International Identity Day.

The disclosure comes amid recent the controversy of Huang En, popularly known as, Aisha Huang, a Chinese citizen with a non-citizen Ghana card re-entering the country after her deportation in 2018 over alleged illegal mining.

Nigerians constituted the second-largest group of foreign citizens with non-citizen Ghana cards with a total of 25,873 cards, while 20,110 bearers were citizens of India.

Per the figures provided by NIA, the cards issued to Germans constituted 4,329; Lebanese, 4,324, United Kingdom (UK) nationals, 4,133; South Africans, 3,194; Ivorians, 2,150 and Gabonese, 1,958 cards.

LIST

Chinese - 34,712 cards
Nigerians - 25,873 cards
Indians - 20,110 cards
Germans - 4,329 cards
Lebanese - 4,324 cards
British - 4,133 cards
South Africans - 3,194 cards
Ivorians - 2,150 cards
Gabonese - 1,958 cards

Providing an update on the number of cards issued in the country so far, Prof Attafuah said as of September 15, 2022, a total of 17,163,081 people had been enrolled on the NIA system, with 16,627,326 cards printed, and 15,869,026 cards issued.

The Executive Secretary said the Authority had introduced a robust system to verify all cards of Ghanaians for the purpose of transacting businesses with banks and to verify non-citizens who would use the card to apply for or renew their residence permit, open or run a bank account in the country.

He said the country would leave no chance in ensuring that the Ghana card became "the single source of proof," noting that the Authority, since January 2021, introduced a verification system, which made banks authenticate individuals who used the card for various transactions.

"With this verification system, if you go to the bank with or without your Ghana card, with your fingerprint, the bank is able to verify your identity as part of KYC (Know Your Customer) and give you a service," Prof Attafuah noted.

The Executive Secretary hinted that NIA would from November 2022 start the registration of Ghanaians abroad and embark on an exercise to register children in the country between the ages of four to 15 in December 2022.

Meanwhile, registration for the card for refugees would start next week, Prof Attafuah said.

He said continuous registration would also be carried out in all 16 designated regional and all 275 district offices of NIA.