All businesses and institutions in Ghana must now use a biometric app scanner to verify national identity cards, under new rules designed to tighten security and clamp down on fraud.
Previously, many organisations relied on simply looking at the card or photocopying it for their records, a practice that left the door open for criminals to impersonate cardholders.
Every Ghanaian citizen and foreign resident in the country is required to carry a plastic biometric national ID, known as the “Ghana Card.” Rolled out over the past decade, the card has become essential to everyday life in the West African nation, needed for banking, registering SIM cards, and obtaining a passport or driver’s licence.
The card stores biometric data collected by the National Identification Authority (NIA), including all 10 fingerprints, iris scans, a photograph and a signature. Going forward, anyone checking the card will need to use a mobile app that verifies this data directly from a scan.
NIA chief Wisdom Yayra Koku Deku said in a statement that photocopying or visually inspecting a Ghana Card for transaction purposes is now a criminal offence, with biometric verification now mandatory.
Organisations that keep relying on photocopies or visual checks risk prosecution and fines of up to 24,000 Ghanaian cedis (roughly $2,100 or £1,550), the NIA said, while individuals face fines of up to 6,000 cedis (about $525 or £390).
The agency has called on organisations not yet linked to its digital verification app to begin the process without delay. Deku added that the government would brief the public in the coming days on how the amended regulations will be implemented and enforced.
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