The Vice President of Ghana, Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia in an earlier conference at Ashesi Univerity said “by the end of first quarter of 2022, Ghana Card will be recognized globally as an e-passport and can be verified in all International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) compliant borders,” which currently is made up of 197 countries and 4,000 airports.

However, on November 3, 2021, speaking with the co-host of Angel FM’s Anↄpa Bofoↄ morning show, Nana Yaa Brefo, Sammy Gyamfi, the National Communication officer of the NDC said that the Ghana Card cannot replace the e-passport because unlike the latter, the NIA card does not have a page to be stamped and it can only be used within visa free countries.

Mr. Osei Kwame Griffiths, head of IT for NDC reacted to Dr. Bawumiah,’s statement on Kessben TV hosted by Omanhene on November 4th 2021 and described as funny the comment by the Vice President. He added that it can not be possible for Ghana Card to be used as an Electronic Passport because it lack some features an electronic passport needs and can never be use to travel to 197 countries as stated by the vice president.

In addition to Sammy Gemfi’s comments, the Managing Editor- for the Crusading Guide Newspaper in an interview with Atinka FM on November 8th 2021 said the Vice President’s comment that suggests that efforts are being put in place to make Ghana-card an e-passport is not possible and are lies.

On the 9th of February 2022 which is not up to the end of first quarter of 2022 stated by the vice president, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has given its seal of approval for Ghana’s national Identity Card, the Ghana Card to be recognized globally as a valid e-passport

Thus, holders of the Ghana Card as well as its future biometric equivalents can present it as official documentation at all 197 (ICAO) compliant countries and 44,000 airports worldwide and board flights to Ghana.

This follows a “Key Ceremony” at the headquarters of ICAO in Montreal, Canada, during which Ghana, represented by the High Commissioner to Canada, H.E Ransford Sowah, received the ‘key’ to symbolically indicate the country’s entry into the ICAO family.

The ICAO declaration follows an earlier hint, given in November 2021 by the Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, that Ghanaians anywhere in the world would soon be able to travel back home using their Ghana cards.

Officials of the National Identification Authority (NIA) say, however, that with the Key Ceremony in Montreal over, the Card can now be verified internationally and border control authorities will be able to confirm in less than 10 seconds that a Ghanaian biometric e-passport (booklet) as well as the Ghanacard/e-passport were issued by the right authority, have not been altered, and are not copies or cloned documents.

A statement issued by the Authority read in part, “In practical terms, this means that it will now be faster and more effective for border control authorities to verify the identity of holders of Ghana’s passports. The Key Ceremony is the final stage of the implementation of Ghana’s e-passport project.”

In brief remarks, H.E Ransford Sowah explained that the Ghana Card contains the biometric information of the holder with a cryptographic digital signature stored on a chip that can be used to authenticate the identity of travellers.

“This makes Ghana one of the few countries in the world where the national ID card also has an e-passport capability,” he emphasized.

He continued, “This means that with this Key Ceremony, all holders of the Ghana Card have an ICAO compliant e-passport that can be read and verified at all ICAO compliant airports/borderposts across the world. It can be used for international travel; subject of course to visa restrictions and bilateral agreements. Indeed, the Ghana Card is already valid for travel in all ECOWAS countries.

“For Ghanaians living or born in the diaspora, holders of the Ghana Card can be allowed to board any flight to Ghana without any visa requirement as we seek to give an inclusive Akwaaba experience to all children and descendants of our motherland.”

Source: www.ghanapublisher.com

Prophet Kofi Amponsah, the leader and the founding President of House of Ezra Prayer Center Worldwide Ministry in Asonomaso Nkwanta in the Ashanti Region has given a shocking revelation on the vice president of Ghana, His Excellency Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia.

In a video cited by ghanapublisher.com, the prophets is seen saying without mincing words that, the vice president should avoid showing interest in the 2024 NPP Flag bearer-ship contest if he wants to have a long life.

In recent activities regarding who succeeds the president in NPP in 2024 elections, a lot of wranglings has started happening in the NPP with  faction creation in the party on the side of some stalwart like Dr. Bawumiah, Alan Kyeremateng and Dr Afriyie Atoko with breaking the 8 agenda as proposed by the NPP party.

Watch the video below

After the overthrow of Dr. Kofi Abrefa Busia’s government on 13th January, 1972, the Danquah-Dombo-Busia tradition began to have its own internal problems: Two heavyweights – Victor Owusu and William Ofori-Atta (hereafter referred to as Paa Willie), high profile members of the Busia-led Progress Party (PP) of the 2nd Republic had difficulties in regrouping to launch a party to “fight” the 1979 presidential and parliamentary elections.

Differences emerged amongst them prior to the formation of a distinct political party to contest the election. Majority of the group led by Victor Owusu, a renowned lawyer and a former Attorney-General under Busia’s government formed the Popular Front Party (PFP) and became its flagbearer. (He garnered 70 votes as against his main contender, Alhaji Yakubu Tali’s 36 who became his running-mate in their internal election. Other aspirants in that contest were; Dr. Kwame Safo-Adu, J.H. Mensah (senior minister under Kufuor’s government), Kwesi Lamptey, Saki Schek, A Chinbua and B.D. Addae.)

Ironically, personalities such as Dr. Obed Asamoah, Sam Okudzeto (Council of State Member), E.R. Madjetey, etc who belonged to Komla Gbedemah’s National Alliance of Liberals (NAL) who were in opposition to the Progress Party in the 2nd Republican Parliament formed the United National Convention (UNC) and settled on Paa Willie who had almost retired from active politics as its flagbearer.

The UNC, apart from having some NAL elements as its core members, also had “new faces” like General Amankwaa Afrifa (a former military Head of State), Peter Ala-Adjetey (a former Speaker of Parliament under Kufuor), the venerable Harry Sawyerr (former Minister of Education under Rawlings), vintage Adu Boahen (first presidential candidate of the NPP) among others who were “not known or active members” of the Progress Party of the 2nd Republic. The animosity between the PFP and UNC kept widening by the day.

Alhaji Imoru Egala, founder of the People’s National Party (PNP), a chip of Kwame Nkrumah’s CPP block took advantage of the Danquah-Dombo-Busia tradition’s woes and sponsored the candidacy of Dr. Hilla Limann to contest the election. He (Egala) was then serving a 12-year ban imposed by the Supreme Court which prohibited all CPP appointees in the first Republic from holding public offices.

The stage became ripe for the conduct of the September 18, 1979 election: there were 140 Parliamentary seats and ten (10) presidential candidates on the ballot paper. At the end of voting, none of the presidential candidates met the constitutional requirement of fifty percent plus one vote (50%+1) pushing the election into a runoff. Below is the list of candidates and their percentage score of the total valid votes cast during the first round:

1. Hilla Limann- People’s National Party [PNP]=35%

2. Victor Owusu- Popular Front Party [PFP]=29%

3. William Ofori Atta- United National Convention [UNC]=17%

4. Frank Bernasko- Action Congress Party [ACP]=9%

5. Ibrahim Mahama- Social Democratic Front [SDF]=3.72%

6. John Bilson – [Third Force Party]=2.75%

7. R. P. Baffour -[Independent]= 0.49%

8. Kwame Nyanteh- [Independent]=0.47%

9. Mark Diamond Addy- [Independent]=0.33%

10. Imoru Ayarna- [Independent]=0.27%

As stated above, the election was forced into a runoff on 8th July, 1979 between the first two leading candidates – Dr. Hilla Limann of the People’s National Party (PNP) and Victor Owusu of the Popular Front Party (PFP).

In a dramatic and bizarre fashion, the UNC elements, under the leadership of Paa Willie threw their support behind Dr. Hilla Limann(an Nkrumahist) to win the second round election with a whooping 62% of the valid votes. All efforts by the PFP leadership to get their breakaway brothers to support them fell on death ears.

The Danquah-Dombo-Busia tradition, due to internal wrangling, at this stage had sold its “precious jewellery” to the PNP at a “wholesale price”. A simple arithmetic of the results in the first round between the PFP (29%) and UNC(17%) should help one to appreciate the drift. Victor, as the flagbearer of the Danquah-Busia front, would have garnered at least 46% and this would have made it easier for him to win in the second round. This explains why Victor Owusu is mostly described as “Ghana’s President Who Never Was.”

The results of the parliamentary election were quite interesting: Limann’s PNP secured 71 seats as against Victor’s PFP – 42, Paa Willie’s UNC-13, Col. Bernarsko’s ACP-10, Ibrahim Mahama’s SDF-3, Third Force Party-0, with 1 Independent. Near Hung Parliament, it was, akin to the 8th Parliament of the 4th Republic – no overwhelming majority seats in the august House. It’s also obvious from the forgoing figures that PFP was far popular than the UNC.

MORAL LESSON: even before president Akufo-Addo is done forming a government for his second and last term, there are already calls for his successor ahead of the 2024 election. Notable among the list of flagbearer aspirants are the sitting Vice President, H.E. Dr. Mahamoud Bawumia and Trade Minister, Alan Kwadwo Kyeremanteng.

Unfortunately, the campaign methodology adopted by ‘apologists’ of these two disguised politicians in the media, particularly on social media has regrettably been pernicious. Civility and decorousness appear to have been thrown to the wind. This should be a cause for worry to all true lovers of the party who want us to break the eight years cycle.

It’s against this backdrop that I appeal to the rank and file of the NPP to be guided by the past. Let’s remember the 1979 historical facts, juxtapose it to the 2007 Legon Conference with 17 flagbearer aspirants which led us into opposition in 2008 as we campaign for our preferred candidate/successor for H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

Let’s not lose sight of the fact that, our (NPP) ability to “Break The 8” depends on two things: the government’s performance in its second term and how we (rank and file) conduct ourselves during, before and after our internal elections. Circumspection, tolerance, respect and self-restraint are critical necessities at this stage. We can’t afford to compromise these virtues. Nothing more, nothing less! Have a good day.