The National Identification Authority (NIA) has rejected claims by banks that the Ghana Card is responsible for identification challenges leading to illegal charges on money transfers between personal bank accounts to mobile money wallets. This comes after complaints from individuals about fees charged for transferring money between bank accounts and mobile money wallets with the same details.
John Awuah, head of the Ghana Association of Bankers, linked the fees to inconsistencies in Ghana Card details between MoMo and bank accounts. He explained that discrepancies trigger the system to treat individuals differently and apply charges. However, NIA’s Executive Secretary, Prof. Kenneth Attafuah has firmly dismissed these claims. In an interview on the Citi Breakfast Show on Friday, Prof Attafuah highlighted the successful completion of over 120 million identity verifications since 2021, indicating the Ghana Card’s effectiveness.
He further emphasised that the law mandates the provision of the Ghana card wherever identification is required, thereby absolving the NIA of any blame in the matter. “These challenges have absolutely nothing to do with the NIA. I must make that very clear. We have since January 2021 conducted over 120 million verifications without a single hitch. So it must be made clear that once a bank is onboarding, all efforts to verify identities using the Ghana card lie with the bank, not the NIA.
“The infrastructure has been provided to the bank so all they need to do is to establish rules with the staff in the bank to verify identity for every transaction. That is what the law requires. “Whether they do this or not is another matter but the law says that wherever identification requires to be established the Ghana card shall be required or produced,” he stated.
By: Abigail Arthur
