Ghana, a Card carrying nation II

Last week, I mentioned that the government must take the bold decision to consolidate at least the:

1.       National Health Insurance Card

2.       Biometric National ID Card

3.       Biometric Voters ID Card

into one card for the Ghanaian populace.

What sort of benefits can accrue from the consolidation of all these cards/functions into one multi purpose card?

Cost Effectiveness

As things stand, three (3 ) discrete government agencies, replete with staff, wage bills and IT infrastructure, administer each of these cards. All these can be replaced by a division within the Electoral Commission’s IT department. This division will be responsible for the rollout and administration of the multipurpose card. Significant cost savings can be realized from the consolidation of all these agencies into one.

Consolidation of Data

Significant information overlap exists between the various cards. Examples are Citizen Name, Address, Age, Sex and Biometric Information. Three government databases exist, containing basically the same information.

Once these cards are consolidated into one database, all government agencies can then be linked into this database to seek information on or additional information can be appended to each citizens data. For example when a citizen registers a new vehicle, the DVLA will log into the database and under the list of vehicles, add the registration number of the new vehicle.

If a traffic offence is committed by a citizen or he is involved in an accident, the police can call the government Call Centre and after giving the vehicle registration number, be given the name and address of the owner of the vehicle. The next time the citizen commits a traffic offence, the police can quickly call up his information from the government call centre and find out if he has committed a similar offence before or if the vehicle has been involved in an accident.

The Insurance industry could benefit from such a system. First of all they would not have to spend vast amounts creating their own databases of vehicles and accident reports. When a citizen goes to renew his car insurance, the Insurance company can quickly log into the government database and find out how many accidents the owner or his vehicle have been involved in. This can determine the discount that the owner of the vehicle receives.

From the Health perspective, if a citizen of the land is ill, all he has to do is to visit a Doctor or health facility and present his card. The Doctor can treat the individual and then update the medical records of the citizen at the government database. This means that a citizen can receive treatment from any government facility and his medical records are available to any health facility. This should also prevent nationals from neighbouring countries from taking advantage of our free health facilities.

Banks and financial institutions could also benefit from this database. Many citizens take loans from one bank and disappear into thin air. They then walk into another bank, create a track record and contract loans from the next bank. This state of affairs increase the risk in giving loans which translates into higher interest rates. When a customer opens an account with a bank, the bank can log into the government database with the customers biometric information and see if he has an outstanding debt with another bank..

VAT and Tax collection

Tax agencies can log into this government database and update the records of individuals and company directors with the status of their tax obligations. Many individuals owe the taxman but can import new vehicles and tender for government and private sector contracts. With such a database, Customs at the port will not only levy the requisite duties for the expensive vehicle imports, but would be able to seize the vehicle until outstanding tax liabilities elsewhere are settled