The National Identification Authority (NIA) has denied any impropriety in the issuance of a Ghana Card with the name Kwabena Adu Gyamfi to Rev. Victor Kusi Boateng.
Legally, a birth certificate, valid passport, valid residency permit, valid proof of acquired citizenship, and any further information the Authority may demand must all be presented by an applicant before registration officials are obliged to register them and issue them a Ghana Card.
On January 30, 2023, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the member of parliament for North Tongu, urged the NIA to provide an explanation for how Rev. Victor Kusi Boateng, the secretary to the board of Trustees of the National Cathedral, came to obtain an NIA card bearing the name Kwabena Adu Gyamfi.
The lawmaker argued that the ability of Rev. Kusi Boateng, a well-known Ghanaian pastor, to use a different identity to apply for a Ghana Card raises questions about the reliability of the NIA database.
In response, the NIA stated in a press release distributed by the NIA’s Communication Directorate on February 1, 2022, that it “operates in conformity with the law and public policy. Popularity has no bearing on the NIA registration procedure. In fact, a person’s popular name may not be their genuine name.
Rev. Kusi Boateng is not listed in the NIA’s database, despite Mr. Ablakwa’s assertion.
The NIA further stated that after Kwabena Adu Gyamfi showed all required documentation, one of its registration centers in Kumasi dutifully issued him an identity card; however, no ID card carrying the name Victor Kusi Boateng has been issued.
“During the mass registration exercise, Kwabena Adu Gyamfi went to an NIA registration center called Vicandy School at Asuoyeboah in Kumasi on 15th January 2020 to register for the Ghana Card.”
“He submitted to NIA registration officials a valid Ghanaian passport issued by the Passport Office on 16th May 2018, with the name Kwabena Adu Gyamfi; the expiry date in the said passport is 15th May 2023.”
“NIA has no record of anyone bearing the name Victor Kusi Boateng in the NIR, and NIA has no record in the NIR of any person born on 7th September 1971 or any other day with the name Victor Kusi Boateng”, the Authority explained.
You can read the full release here.
