District assemblies must lead in identity management —Experts
Three experts in identity management from the republics of Germany and South Africa have argued in favour of district assemblies leading in the capture of data for the national register.
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They said since district assemblies were at the base of good governance, they must be empowered to play this role effectively.
The establishment of a national register would, among others, enhance the exchange of data among registration officers throughout the country.
The experts, Mr Phillip Von Boden Hausen, Business Development Manager HSH Global in South Africa; Mr Stephan Hauber and Mr Bert Lorenz, both from HSH Germany, were interacting with the Daily Graphic after they had participated in a workshop aimed at attaining a national register and a synchronised identity card organised by the Ministry of Local Government and National Identification Authority (NIA) in Accra last week.
The three officials from the German-based company, HSH Software and Hardware, participated in the workshop to assist Ghana in the identification of a common ground for the development of a software that would create a centralised identity database with enhanced security features.
The workshop enabled stakeholders to brainstorm and decide on the processes and development of appropriate software that would have multi-purpose functions and serve as an ideal model that governments could use to plan, implement and deliver socio-economic developments of communities.
The workshop was also a preparation to agree on common ground for the harmonisation of database in operation within ministries, departments and agencies, corporate organisations and industries in the performance of their duties.
The three experts, who have many years of experience, were key in the development of the software that Germany is currently using in its identity management and the national register.
Mr Boden Hausen, who was the lead spokesperson, said data capturing was an ongoing event which must be sustained to make it more functional.
He, however, cautioned that every nation had different preconditions which needed to be considered properly.
He said besides a onetime census, captured data could be only of high quality if it could be maintained by possible application processes out of life cycle.
He added that it should be possible for the nation to capture data once but once captured, it must have multiple uses.
He also said that “Ghana needs one citizenship to ease all processes,” he stated
Challenges
On challenges facing Ghana in identity management, he said, “there is a chance for the country to synchronise all existing database and how the NIA can work in close collaboration with the district assemblies is vital.”
There was also the problem of multiple citizenship and different database which he said were not the best arrangement in identity management.
The three representatives from HSH Germany and South Africa also called for the establishment of a comprehensive national register, starting from the district assemblies to allow for easy identification.
A captured register will contain the name, date and place of birth together with other details regarding a citizen’s birth, tax number, religion, business licenses, passports and identity cards.
In conclusion, they also suggested the need for Ghana to establish an ICT Master Plan for Internet provision for the country.
Participants at workshop
Institutions such as the Ghana Immigration Service, the Passport Office, Electoral Commission, National Identification Authority, the ministries and the assemblies participated in the workshop which also had Mr Jacob Osei Yeboah, an independent presidential candidate for the 2012 elections; Dr Abu Sakara, presidential candidate for the Convention People’s Party, and Mahama Ayariga, presidential candidate for the People’s National Convention, in attendance.
A four-member government delegation visited Berlin in Germany in October 2013 to identify, discuss and evaluate the possibility of Ghana adopting the German Federal Central Data Management System.
