Ghana NIA?s Legal Mandate

The National Identification Authority (NIA) was established by Act 707 0f 2006. Act 707 empowered NIA to develop and implement a national identification infrastructure. NIA is mandated to develop, record and update an identity management system, through enrolling citizens and legal residents, and issuing them with unique identification numbers and national identity cards (Ghanacards) that are linked with their biographical and biometric details.

Under the National Identity Register Act, 2008 (Act 750) the NIA keeps and maintains the National Identity Register (NIR) as an electronic database. By Act 750 the purpose for which the NIR is to be maintained is confined to matters of public interest. Section 4 of Act 750 provides for the content of the NIR including personal biometric information of an individual among others.? Indeed, the NIR is meant to be a comprehensive, accurate and highly secured population register that will help the country to develop and facilitate governmental service delivery by making the needed population demographical data available to support the decision-making process, as well as strategic planning related to resource allocation in various vital areas and sectors.

NATIONAL MASS REGISTRATION EXERCISE

In September 2006, The Government of Ghana signed a contract with the French solutions provider, Sagem Securite, now known as Safran Morpho (Morpho) for the provision of a population database and identity document to herald the mass registration exercise to collect biometric and demographic data of Ghanaians and Foreigners living in Ghana to populate the NIR. The system chosen was a centralized one in which material and human resources are deployed in the field over various periods where biometric data is collected, taken to the head office and taken through a process of cleaning up/quality assurance and deduplication as it is commonly referred to. After data processing and deduplication, ID cards are personalized with records of registrants.? These cards, the Ghanacards, are then shipped back into the field through another deployment of human and material resources where persons who have been enrolled are expected to pick up their Ghanacards.

As at the time I assumed office on November 1, 2013, the national mass registration exercise, which started in 2008 in the Central Region and was supposed to have been completed nine months hence, had just concluded with registration of our compatriots in Northern, Upper East and Upper West regions.

The exercise occurred as follows: Central Region – July 2008, Western Region – August 2008, Eastern Region – October 2008, Volta Region – April 2009, Greater Accra Region – November 2009, Ashanti Region – April 2010, Brong Ahafo Region – March 2012, Northern, Upper East and Upper West – August 2013.

At the end of the nationwide mass registration exercise about 15 million plus biometric and demographic records have been collected for Ghanaians of age six and above. Out of this only 9,120,476 million records have been inserted into the Database, 4,565,017 (50.41%) records are in finished state with Identities (i.e. PIN numbers). This means 49.59% of records inserted are either totally rejected or hanging in some error queue. Out of the number of records inserted, only 2.72 million Ghanacards printed for Greater Accra Region and part of Ashanti Region, with only 915,000 Ghanacards distributed just in Greater Accra Region.

THE SYSTEM CHALLENGES

As already mentioned, the Morpho system was designed to do centralized printing, involving the mass deployment of human and material resources to collect data. The data is taken to the Head Office for card printing and thereafter the Ghanacards are taken back into the field for distribution. The cost of distribution of the printed cards has proven to be higher than the cost involved in collecting the data.

In the face of funding challenges, there have been both data collection and distribution delays. Eventually, when funds are obtained the difficulties in identifying individuals when the cards are shipped back meant that NIA had to return these cards to the warehouse. The distribution exercise in Greater Accra region is a great example of this difficulty. We shall return to issue of funding in the course of this encounter.

TECHNOLOGY LIFE CYCLE

Technology changes rapidly. That is case for the identity management industry where expensive Research and Development (R&D) is enabling modern and advanced means for collection of biometric data and the personalization of the data so collected.

The centralized printing system at NIA designed by Morpho in 2006 has to all intents and purposes become outmoded. For example, it takes only 4 fingers as against the current international trend of ten fingerprints and some aspects do not conform to Internationally accepted standards (ISO, ICAO etc). ?????? Its obsolescence and design flaws are also made obvious by the fact that certain critical data needs of stakeholders were omitted. For example even contact information (i.e. phone numbers, email, etc) on registrants were not collected. This is just to mention a few.

DATA REJECTION

The negative effect of the above on NIA?s ability to deliver on its mandate is humongous. This has also led to a large amount of rejection of data during deduplication/quality assurance processes.

Several explanations have been assigned by the technical staff for this situation. One explanation alluded to an obvious misplacement of priority in the sense that whilst the system was not ready data collection had started in earnest! Indeed, it is only in November 2010 that system installation and training was completed almost three years after commencement of data collection.

It has also become clear that the recently concluded data collection exercise in Northern Ghana shows signs of even worse data rejection rates after spending the tax payer?s money. ?These difficulties are troubling, especially when we recognize that we continued to register Ghanaians even when we knew that there was something seriously wrong with the system and that the rejection rates were abnormally high.? I have learned for example, that the Board?s expectation was that the Northern registration would use a more modern 10 fingerprint AFIS but that did not happen.? NIA management should have paid attention to value for money considerations and evaluated the data already collected with the view to improving upon, and using modern instant card issuing system for that exercise. This wise counsel of the Governing Board was ignored and the exercise took place.

NIA GOVERNING BOARD

For those of us wondering whether the Board exercised its oversight role in all these let me say that from the records, the NIA had its first Governing Board properly so called in July 2009. Before then what existed after NIA was created in 2006 was an Interim Management Committee headed by one Prof. Apeadu who was in the Office of the President. I have not cited any minutes of the IMC regarding the NIA so I have no idea how it played its oversight role. However, I have seen Board minutes of the Board duly inaugurated in 2009. After perusal there is nothing in these minutes that would demonstrate that management at the time informed the Board about these sensitive and critical challenges as enumerated above apart from broad report on the exercise given to the Board by ??????????? the then CEO.

Based on the Board minutes of the Board must have noted that the need has arisen for a pause in the exercise so it could be reviewed to ensure value for money. That was why it asked the management at the time to hold on with registration in Northern Ghana until an \evaluation was done and modern instant issuance equipment, which the PPA had already approved, were procured for at least an instant issuance of cards in northern Ghana instead of a return trip to distribute the cards as and when they are printed. As already stated the Board decision was ignored.

PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP? ????

In May 2012, after about 2 years of rigorous process, the NIA signed a PPP contract with Identity Management Systems (IMS) Ltd. This involves the licensing of IMS to register eligible foreign nationals living in Ghana. This PPP is so far the only one that has successfully gone through under the existing PPP Policy guideline issued by Government in June 2011.in spite of the ?????? challenges the PPP has been largely successful. It is an instant issuance system that eliminates the cost and challenges associated with card distribution. The system also takes care of the data needs of all stakeholders including all ten fingerprints, an ICOA compliant portrait and contact information just to mention a few. It has brought revenue to the NIA in an unprecedented way. [We might want to expand this]

Based on the successes chalked as stated above, the Board decided that, the PPP be expanded to enable instant issuance of Ghanacards to Ghanaians as well. The advantages of instant ??? should be clear by now in the light of issues already mentioned. Suffice it to say that it is cost effective. That?s why entities such NHIA and SSNIT, who are better ??? resourced than the NIA, are going that route.

The PPP Approval Committee (PPAC) has already given approval in principle for the expanded PPP and is awaiting the submission of draft contract by the parties. Just like the previous one this contract will be sent to the Attorney-General?s Department for due diligence.

In sum, the expanded PPP scope will enable instant issuance of a Multifunctional Smart Identity Cards with a chip memory size of 120 Kilobyte. The memory will be segmented and issued to various institutions to run their applications on the same card instead of issuing multiple cards. In order to make use of the old cards supplied to the NIA under the Morpho contract, a contact chip will be planted on the card through milling and embedding to convert the 2D barcode card to a contact smart card. Other cards being produced from scratch will be dual interface with both contact and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) modes of communication.

Under the expanded scope, biometric data such as iris has been added to enhance the security and integrity of the NIS. Additionally, the Ghanacard has been designed to assist our compatriots with visual challenge to be able to use the new national ID card by the tactile feature on the card.

The current Ghanacard is a 2D barcode card with only 1 kilobyte of storage (behind current required standards) with no verification system in place. As already mentioned, the NIS is designed for central issuance (not instant issuance) which leads to double operational cost. The current registration system has exceeded its 5-year life span.

This together with the specifications of the system eliminates any excuse that has been advanced so far by any institution, to collect biometric data instead of using the NIR. Surely, the ? above is not and cannot amount to wastage of resources as some would want the world to believe. Technology changes and we must change with technology if we are to achieve our statutory mandate.

OUR PRIVATE PARTNER

 

As already mentioned, our private partner, IMS Ltd is majority Ghanaian owned company. Its parent company, the Margins Group has about 25 years experience in the ID and printing industry. Their card manufacturing factory is the largest in West Africa and it is both ISO and EMV certified. ISO stands for International Standards Organisation while EMV is the acronym for the 3 biggest credit card companies in the world, i.e. Euromoney, Mastercard and Visa.?? Margins Group currently is the sole local representative for Datacard, a leading global printer manufacturer. ? Locally they command a large share of the ID and printing business with many clients both in the public and private sectors.

 

I need to stress here that this partnership is a product of a PPP approval process that is domiciled at the Ministry of Finance.? This PPP Approval Committee is chaired by the Hon. Minister for Finance.? It is also a fact that what the PPPAC has so far endorsed for NIA and IMS are project concepts that do not require NIA to contribute any investments beyond our human capacity.? For NIA our current goal is to put Ghanacards in the hands of up to 15 million Ghanaians by November 2015. And beyond that we want to see an Authority that is paying its own bills.

It is worth noting that the Transaction advisor for this partnership is EY Ghana, and AB & David Ltd, are the Legal Advisors. These are reputable firms whose credentials are not in doubt.

 

SALVAGING THE OLD SYSTEM

Contrary to suggestion by some, the old system has not been dumped. For example, the Datacard printers will be used for deferred issuance in areas where there may be network challenges. Consumables not used under the old system, including the remaining laminate, ribbons and blank cards will be used for personalization under the expanded scope.

FUNDING NIA

For the NIA to play its statutory role effectively, it needs to be abreast with technology. It needs to be empowered to use modern identity management solutions. All these have huge financial implications. Limited funding and funding delays have been significant impediments in the effective implementation of the NIS since its conception. For instance the NIA did not directly benefit from the French Government budgetary support of ?30,000,000.00 for the national identification project in 2007.

As at August 7, 2014 the outstanding bills of NIA stood at GH? 4,288,737.46. In 2014, NIA was given the sum of GH? 760,000.00 instead of the GH? 13,076467.60 requested. Out of these there was no provision for investment and other capital expenditures. Indeed, the NIA had not even received its first quarter vote of GH? 190,000.00 for the 2014 fiscal year.

 

So we had a choice. It was a choice between waiting upon government to bring us the non-existent resources while we pretend to be delivering on our mandate and that of the vision espoused by the President and the Board of weaning ourselves of ????????? governmental subvention and to generate substantive revenue for the country.? In other words NIA can and needs to move from being a cost centre to a revenue centre in much the same way as analogous authorities without losing sight of its public service mandate.

USD 115 MILLION CHINESE FACILITY

Following an Expression of Interest placed in the national dailies in or about 2010 inviting proposal that are backed with funding, for the upgrade of the National Identification System(NIS), the China Integrated Design Corporation was chosen out of the applications received.

Following the Expression of Interest, a lot has taken place including the signing of a Framework Agreement on November 18, 2012 between the Government of the Republic of Ghana and the Government of the People?s Republic of China for the Provision of Government Interest- subsidized Concessional Facility of One Hundred and Fourteen Million , Nine Hundred and Sixty Five Thousand, One Hundred and Sixteen US Dollars and Ninety Six Cents only (US $114.965,116.96)/ Seven Hundred and Thirty Million Yuan (Y 730,000,000) ?by China to the Republic of Ghana .

The NIA and the China Integrated Circuit Design Co. Ltd (CIDC) on April 19, 2012 entered into a Contract Agreement for the Upgrading Ghana?s National Identification System.

As already noted above, the upgrading project is to be financed through a loan facility offered by the Government of the People?s Republic of China acting through the Export-Import Bank of China.

The terms and conditions of the Credit Facility are as follows:

Facility Amount ???????????????????? -?????????? RMB 730,000,000.00 (Eqiv.US$114,965,116.96)

Grace Period?????????????????????????? -?????????? 7 years

Repayment Period????????????????? -?????????? 13 years

Maturity Period?????????????????????? -?????????? 20 years

Interest Rate?????????????????????????? -?????????? 2% p.a.

Commitment fees??????????????????? -?????????? 0.75% p.a.

Management Fee???????????????????? -?????????? 1.00% flat

Currently, a cabinet memo has been prepared awaiting clearance from the Ministry of Finance to be submitted to cabinet for approval and subsequent presentation to parliament. A value for money audit exercise involving Crown Agents has also taken place.

In short it is not true that a loan has been approved, neither is it the case that the facility when approved would be used to produce national ID cards. Indeed, the facility is to enable NIA to complete its identity management ecosystem and to do such things as harmonizing/integrating all existing biometric databases within the public service, help establish regional/zonal offices, establish a biometric institute to be affiliated to a public university, procure mobile registration vans, etc. These and many other initiatives will ensure that the NIA move into the arena of a world class identity management organization.? As a matter of fact, in view of developments at NIA since the agreement was signed NIA has engaged CIDC in talks to rescope the project parameters to reflect NIA?s current realities.? As we speak, NIA needs to complete works on its building.? For example the building needs urgent air-conditioning work, and a comprehensive electronic security system to protect the National Identity Register.? The Authority needs to acquire mobile registration vans and e-kiosks, and ensure that beyond the PPP registrations, NIA staffs are up to the regulatory task of harmonization and integration of all public biometric data.? Indeed we have discussed with the CIDC the need to deal with the interconnection infrastructural needs of our user agencies so that we can create a seamless interconnected identity management system that will form a solid foundation for our country?s e-governance and e-commerce.

This, ladies and gentlemen is the story of the CIDC loan.? The facility if approved will be for the purchase of equipment.? It is not cash that NIA has discretion to apply as it wants.? The loan agreement and the on-lending agreement are now at the Ministry of Finance.? It is therefore very strange for anyone to talk about how a facility that has not been approved is being used.

It is worth noting that, in 2012, a government delegation led by our then minister, Dr. Kweku Appiah-Kubi visited China in pursuit of this facility. This delegation included both Hon. James Avedzi, MP who is chair of Parliament?s Select Committee on Finance and Hon. Dr. Anthony Osei Akoto, ranking member on Finance.

LEADERSHIP CHANGE

On November, 1, 2013 I assumed office as the new CEO of NIA. Without any handing over notes, and armed with the confidence reposed in me by President ?????? Mahama who believed that I have the requisite experience to renew, restructure and rebrand the NIA I soon began to face the reality on the ground. These include:

1. Unprocessed data including data collected as far back as 2008 when the exercise began in the Central Region;
2. Very high data rejection rate in the region of 45%-50%;
3. Millions of Ghanacards printed but have not been collected due mainly to little or no ??????????? funding;
4. Obsolete equipment including MRWs that were breaking down frequently;
5. Huge indebtedness, including sums owed to data collectors, contract staff, service ??????????? providers, and huge utility bills;
6. A lot of idle labour including about 65 drivers, out of a staff strength of 180, who were ????????????? hired for the intended 9-month registration exercise.
7. Ever dwindling government subvention, etc.
8. We have gone through a cost-cutting process involving the reassignment and training of ??????????? certain categories of staff
9. We are re-negotiating with debtors who are threatening court action over unpaid bills some of which go as far back as 2008.Instead of being overwhelmed I chose to overachieve for the sake of country and to demonstrate the confidence the President and the Board have reposed in me by my appointment. With the unalloyed support of the Board we set out to ensure that NIA works ????? again.

STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT

On the expanded PPP scope we have already engaged the Bank of Ghana and the commercial banks, Passport Office, the National Communications Authority and the Chamber of Telecoms, the Controller and Accountant General?s Department, Ghana Immigration Service, among others and we are all in agreement that we urgently need to establish a credible national identification system.? Here, I wish to mention our ongoing collaboration with the Ministry of Finance and the Controller and Accountant General?s Department to fight the canker of ghost employees through modern identity management practices.

Pursuant to a recent directive from the Chief of Staff placing a moratorium on purchase of AFIS by MDAs, a roundtable engagement under his leadership is being planned.

ACHIEVING THE VISION OF A VIBRANT NIA

 

I am committed to justifying the confidence reposed in me by the president when he made me CEO of NIA. I do believe that the appointing authority knows that I am equal to the task. I know the Office of the President, the Minister for Development Authorities who oversees NIA, and the Governing Board know that we can fix NIA?s problems. ?This is precisely what we are trying to do.

 

In this wise I am happy to report that since I took office in November 2013:

 

1. We have dealt with all outstanding audit issues for the periods 2011-2012 predating my appointment and are on course to finishing the 2013 audit;

 

1. For the first time in the history of NIA, we shall meet the statutory requirement of ??????????? submitting an annual report to parliament via our minister;

 

iii.??????? We have achieved a reconstitution of NIA Entity Tender Committee in line with statutory ??????????? requirements which was not the case previously;

 

1. We have introduced of biometric literacy programme for all staff of NIA

 

1. We have drafted the NIA Policy Document/ecosystem setting out our corporate ??????????? architecture and processes which our Board will be validating

 

1. We have reactivated the Annual Board retreat to review NIA situation with Board and ??????????? others including management members. Last retreat before this was reactivated was in ???????????????? 2010.

 

vii.?????? With the blessing of the Governing Board we are engaging an internationally recognized ????????????? firm to help us with corporate restructuring and rebranding, strategic planning and ??????? organizational renewal;

 

viii.????? We have a submitted a draft NIA Bill for the Governing Board?s consideration with the goal of achieving an amendment of the current Act as soon as possible.

 

viii.????? We have began serious discussions with the Births and Deaths Registry to strengthen ?????????????????? our collaboration as required by law including co-location, ensure the necessary linkage ????????????????????? that must exist between these 2 key organisation.

 

1. With the help of the Presidency and the Ministry of Communication a moratorium has been placed by the Chief of Staff on further purchases of AFISs by any MDAs.

 

1. NIA has drafted the Terms of Reference (TOR) for the Technical Committee which is to be firmed up pursuant to the harmonization and integration of all public biometric ???? databases.

 

 

 

 

1. CONCLUSION

 

At its recent annual retreat the NIA Board adopted a theme of Validating and Consolidating the New NIA Vision and Mission.? the Board affirmed that going forward, the success of the NIS depends on the collaborative efforts of various stakeholders and user agencies, including the NHIA, SSNIT, GIS, the Police, Births and? Deaths Registry, NPRA, DVLA, GRA, CAGD, Passport Office, BOG/financial institutions, etc.? This is because for the idea of the NIS and therefore the NIR to be effective and successful, all the user agencies have to cooperate and eliminate turf wars. The enforcement of the NIA laws is absolutely essential to its viability and sustainability.? The National Identity Register Regulations, 2012 (LI2111) make the use of the Ghanacard compulsory in all transactions requiring identification in Ghana.

 

We must stress the point once again that for NIA to be effective and deliver on its mandate as an identity management authority it needs to be abreast with and adapt to the fast changing technology ecosystem and this involves humongous financial, human and material resources.

 

Accordingly, the PPP as well as the Chinese facility are complementary with regard to funding our activities over a period of time.? The processes involved are in fidelity with all appropriate laws and regulations. That is why it took about 2 years to have the PPP agreement signed in 2012. It is also the reason why we are still interested in pursuing the Chinese facility.

 

The essence of leadership is to solve problems or address challenges. There are problems and challenges at NIA as can be seen from the foregoing dating as far back as when data collection started in 2008 while the system was not even ready to process the data so collected. The spiraling effect of that era has continued till date.

 

So we need to solve the problems and that is what the Board and staff of NIA have to avert their minds to.? I believe we cannot achieve our goals if we see the challenges within the realm of doing business as usual.? In fact we cannot overcome the problem or challenge of putting in place a modern and effective identity management system with any business as usual model.

 

The current NIA Management is thinking outside the box. It is challenging itself to be the best. Ladies and Gentlemen, it is certainly not a crime to do that.? What is wrong with the decision that NIA must be fixed to deliver on its mandate? Must we not demonstrate that we are earning our pay as public servants through the deployment of lawfully creative approaches to solving our problems? Yes, we have faced tremendous difficulties in the past and we have not delivered as expected of us. Indeed, it could be argued that even in the face of very limited resources we could have done better. Meanwhile, in this technological world, the system we have now is clearly obsolete. We have to move on, and we need to do so in the most creative and effective fashion. This is exactly what we are doing. As we have indicated elsewhere, we are currently seeking other partners to ensure that NIA fully fulfils its mandate.

 

We are ready to engage the public to discuss our strategic plan. As already stated a stakeholder session is being planned under the leadership of the Chief of Staff.? However, no ?? matter the circumstances, we can do without the rancor, distortions, grandstanding, and politicization and in some cases plain mischief characterizing the current discussions. It is unfair to the hardworking personnel involved in the entire process. They are well meaning Ghanaians helping to develop the country.? Ladies and gentlemen, we believe that if we have the support of Ghanaians and especially the support of the fourth realm NIA will come out its shell and play its rightful role in the development of our dear country.

 

 

Thank you.

 

MANAGEMENT OF NATIONAL IDENTIFICATION AUTHORITY