It is now a criminal offence in Ghana to photocopy or visually inspect a Ghana Card for transactional purposes, following the maturity of a newly gazetted law.
Under the freshly enacted amendment to the Legislative Instrument (LI) 2111, biometric verification has officially become mandatory for all transactions requiring the national identity card.
The disclosure was made in an official statement issued by Yayra Koku, Chief Executive Officer of the National Identification Authority (NIA).
According to the statement, the implementation follows the maturity of the LI 2111 amendment, which was first introduced in Parliament three months ago and officially gazetted today.
The new legal framework introduces stringent penalties for corporate bodies and individuals who fail to comply with the directive.
Organizations that violate the order by failing to deploy biometric verification commit an offence and will face significant legal consequences.
Upon summary conviction, corporate offenders face a fine ranging from a minimum of 500 penalty units up to 2,000 penalty units.
Individual offenders are also targeted under the law, with personal fines ranging between 50 and 500 penalty units for non-compliance.
The NIA has indicated that stricter enforcement measures are on the horizon.
The sector Minister in charge of the National Identification Authority is expected to address the general public in the coming days to outline the strategic steps being implemented to ensure strict adherence to the new amendment across the country.
In the meantime, the NIA has advised corporate entities and transaction providers to immediately align their operations with the new legal requirements.
Organizations can apply to be integrated onto the NIA Identity Verification Platform by sending a formal onboarding request to idverification@nia.gov.gh.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana