The National Identification Authority (NIA) has revealed that it is owed huge sums of money by the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) and the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).
According to the Executive Secretary of the NIA, Prof. Kenneth Attafuah, NHIA owes NIA an amount of $58 million while the GRA owes them GHC288 million. These debts have accumulated since 2020.
Appearing before the Assurances Committee of Parliament on Monday, August 26, 2024, Prof. Attafuah noted that these financial constraints explain why the Authority struggles to print Ghana Cards for the public.
Currently, about 151,896 Ghana cards are cleared and are ready to be printed but NIA owes its technical partners.
Also, there are about 559,457 cards in backlog, with over 17 million cards issued to the public.
Prof. Ken Attafuah expressed the readiness of the Authority to print and issue all outstanding cards when these debts are cleared.
He stated that the NIA owes its partners such as the Identity Management System Limited a considerable amount of money.
Earlier this year, some partners of NIA including Identity Management Systems, withheld over 3.5 million cards due to the government’s failure to clear its debts.
As of August 20, 2024, over 18 million Ghanaians have been registered on the national identity register. 17 million Ghana Cards have been printed so far.
Source:onuaonline.com