The Bank of Ghana (BoG) earlier this year, served notice to all licensed financial institutions and the general public that effective July 1, 2022, the Ghana Card shall be the only identification card accepted for any form of banking or financial transactions in the country.
According to a statement signed by the Central Bank and sighted by a1radioonline.com, the move is in furtherance of its objective of ensuring the safety of the financial system.
“Bank of Ghana pursuant to Regulation 7 of the National Identity Register, 2012 (L.I. 2111), hereby directs that with effect from 1st July 2022, the Ghana Card shall be the only identification card that will be used to undertake transactions at all Bank of Ghana licensed and regulated financial institutions,” BoG noted in the statement.
The direction has taken effect since July 1, 2022.
It has emerged that because of the implementation of the directive from the Bank of Ghana (BOG), many have become stranded in the banking halls. This is because some Ghanaians still have not successfully registered for their Ghana card or may have misplaced same.
The situation has created the need for middlemen who are Ghana card bearers. These individuals are found in or around banking halls, charging tokens to help those who do not have the Ghana card to complete their banking transactions.
These allegations were made by a member of the NDC’s Upper East Regional Communication Team, Jonathan Abdallah Salifu and the Chairman of Narrative Changers, George Solomon. They made these statements on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East Show.
“Many people in this country do not have the Ghana card. They are many people who hold the Voter’s ID but do not have the Ghana card. When they [the BOG] said that for banking transactions you need the Ghana card, you go to the bank, there are people who act as goro boys. They stand there, when you come to do a transaction and you do not have the Ghana card, they do it for you and you pay a fee. That is the only valid document you can use in the bank,” Mr. Abdallah said.
He continued to say “anytime I leave my Ghana card behind and I go to do a transaction, I hang around, when I see a friend, I say, charlie, just pay this money in for me. But there are also guys around who take advantage.”
Alluding to the same issues, Mr. Solomon, the Chairman of Narrative Changers said, “you cannot even deposit money without the Ghana card. If you even want to withdraw money and you do have the card, someone is there to help you with his Ghana card. You pick the money and you sort him out.”
“Two days ago, I paid money for someone to pay money into an account for me. As I said, I do not have the Ghana card but I needed to pay money into the account of someone I owe,” he said.
Mr. Solomon continued to say, “someone is sitting there ready to offer you a service.”
Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana
