Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has announced newborn babies will be issued Ghana Cards at various hospitals in July 2023.
Speaking at the International Women’s Conference in the United Kingdom on Saturday, June 10, Dr. Bawumia said, “We have taken off the problem of fake birth certificates, bureaucracy, and corruption at the Birth and Deaths Registry. What we have done is to digitalize the processes at the Birth and Death Registry and linked their system with the Ghana Health Service and the NIA”.
“I have not yet announced in Ghana, I’m happy to announce that the integration of the database of the NIA, GHS, and the Birth and Deaths Registry is complete. So from next month, when a child is born in Ghana, we will issue the Ghana Card number right from birth”.
According to him, the step is a homogenization of the National Identification Authority (NIA), Ghana Health Service (GHS), and Births and Deaths Registry databases.
The National Identification Authority has registered over 17 million Ghanaians onto its system.
During the same event, Vice President Bawumia addressed claims made by Alan Kyerematen, a former Trade Minister and aspiring flagbearer of the NPP, suggesting that the party lacks a message for the upcoming 2024 elections. Dr. Bawumia highlighted achievements of the NPP Government since assuming office in 2017, acknowledging that more work remains to be done.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, when you look at this tall list of achievements, one cannot but admit that they are monumental. Let nobody tell you that we don’t have a message for 2024," said Dr. Bawumia.
"I must hasten to add that this does not mean we have done everything we intended to do or ought to have done. There is clearly a lot more to do and we will work hard to do more."
In his speech, Dr. Bawumia discussed the challenges inherited by the government, including high unemployment, a prolonged power crisis (dumsor), a struggling national health insurance system, a near-collapse of the national ambulance service, freeze on public sector employment, a weakened banking sector, rising utility bills, poor economic indicators, low agricultural and industrial growth, and the burden of paying $1 billion annually for an excess energy capacity deal negotiated by the previous NDC administration.
However, the Vice President also emphasized the various programs, projects, and policies implemented by the NPP Government to address these challenges. He cited improvements in the economy, education, healthcare, agriculture, industries, security, energy, and digitization as evidence of the government's accomplishments.
Dr. Bawumia concluded his address by assuring the audience that the NPP indeed has a message for the 2024 elections, urging them to consider the monumental achievements and ongoing efforts of the government. He acknowledged that there is still much work to be done and reaffirmed the government's commitment to continue striving for progress.