Ghana seeks to restructure digital ID authority for enhanced law enforcement

Ghana’s National Identification Authority (NIA) could soon be placed under the tutelage of the Ministry of Interior on a permanent basis, opening up the possibility for stronger collaboration between the ID authority, law enforcement and security agencies.

This will happen if a legislative amendment the government has sent to parliament eventually gets the nod of lawmakers.

At the moment, the ID authority is not attached to any specific ministry, and this has resulted to what authorities call limited collaboration with law enforcement and intelligence agencies.

Speaking on this issue recently in an X post, the Acting Executive Secretary of the NIA, Yayra Koku, explained why the legislative change is important.

Among other things, he said it will strengthen official collaboration between the NIA and security agencies by granting them direct access to the biometric citizen database which the NIA controls. That access will be defined, and not arbitrary, the CEO clarified.

“The new amendment of NIA Act 707 [2006], if passed by parliament, will place the National Identification Authority permanently under the Ministry responsible for the Interior, grant security agencies access to the database of the Authority and align its operations to that of National Security,” Koku said in his post.

He added that the structural change had become inevitable for the government given the growing national security needs of the nation, and because the old arrangement “created operational inefficiencies and disrupted the ability of the Authority to establish stable partnerships with law enforcement and intelligence agencies.”

“Placing NIA permanently under the Ministry of Interior will assist the Authority in establishing the necessary collaboration in the enforcement of its operations,” Koku argued.

He also mentioned that if the legislative changes go through, one of the benefits of allowing security agencies access to the citizen identification database is that “police officers can easily track suspects by writing on their cards.”

Move raises data security, privacy fears

This development has already triggered concerns related to data privacy and security from some citizens, digital rights advocates, and civil society organizations.

Already, some have been reacting negatively to the initiative, with one X user calling it a dangerous move, writing under Koku’s X post.

“What protection do citizens have left against government abuse? This new NIA law is a dangerous move; it strips away every safeguard. The agency must remain independent, and no security service should ever access data without court approval,” the citizen wrote.

“This is not good. Citizens’ data should not be accessed without a court order. Government and security services can misuse the data. Stop this bill immediately,” another Ghanaian cried out.

Critics of the move are emphasizing the need for the government to ensure that there are strong legal, technical, and procedural safeguards to prevent misuse or unauthorized secondary use of data accessed by security agencies.

In other countries like Uganda, there are accusations that the government uses the national ID system to enforce digital surveillance.

Article Topics

Africa  |  data privacy  |  data protection  |  digital identity  |  Ghana  |  identity management  |  legal identity  |  legislation  |  National Identification Authority (NIA)