 has announced that discussions are currently underway with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) to integrate driver’s license information into the Ghana Card system.){kind=link}
The National Identification Authority (NIA) has announced that discussions are currently underway with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) to integrate driver’s license information into the Ghana Card system.
According to the Executive Secretary of the NIA, Wisdom Kwaku Deku, the move is aimed at streamlining government identification processes and reducing the duplication of functions among state institutions.
Speaking on Citi FM’s Eyewitness News, Mr. Deku questioned the rationale behind the DVLA’s continued issuance of separate cards when the Ghana Card already possesses the technological capacity to hold such data.
“Talks are ongoing with DVLA. Why should DVLA be issuing cards to people when they can ride on NIA? It is a storage space with 148-space capacity. If you look at the face of the DVLA card and that of the Ghana Card, we are almost collecting similar information,” he said.
He explained that any additional information currently held by the DVLA but not yet captured on the Ghana Card could easily be written onto it, allowing for full integration between the two databases.
Mr. Deku added that once implemented, law enforcement officers would be able to verify a person’s driving status directly from the Ghana Card through electronic verification devices.
“The data that is on the DVLA that is not on the Ghana Card—why don’t you write it onto the Ghana Card so that at any point in time a policeman stops you and asks for your Ghana Card, you give it, the person reads through the hardware device and sees whether there is a valid licence on it or not,” he explained.
He emphasized that such an initiative would not only simplify citizen identification but also save government resources by eliminating the need to produce multiple physical cards for citizens.
However, the NIA Executive Secretary clarified that the proposed integration cannot proceed without a formal government policy directive, despite the positive discussions held so far.
“It will take a government policy to do that. It is a plan. I have spoken to the Chairman of the DVLA board, I have spoken to the CEO too, and we are still in talks. But once we finish, it has to end up with the government to give the directive,” Mr. Deku said.