President Akufo-Addo says the the days where people reduce their age to seeking for position in the country are over as government’s revitalization agenda moves into a higher gear.
According to him, never again will it be that someone, born in Ghana , will live a full life, due and be buried , without any record of his or her existence.
Delivering the 2022 State Of the Nation Address, he said, “the operations of birth and death registry are finally being digitised to make sure that documents issued from that department are accorded the respect they should have.”
He went further to express his amusement over the National Identification Card and the Ghana Card finally been integrated into the everyday lives of Ghanaians as a cradle-to-grave necessity.
“Every child born in this country will be registered, and the dates of birth registered will remain your date of birth throughout your life. There will be no school age, no football age, no SSNIT age, and no official age.
Never again will it be that someone, born in this country, will live a full life, die and be buried, without any record of his or her existence. The operations of the Births and Deaths Registry are finally being digitised to make sure that documents issued from that department are accorded the respect they should have.
Every child born in this country will be registered, and the date of birth registered will remain your date of birth throughout your life. There will be no school age, no football age, no SSNIT age, and no official age. When we register for National Health Insurance, the details of our identification will be the same as the details on a driving licence, a passport and yes, on our tax identification.
Today, we all have addresses at which we can be identified, even if we live, unfortunately for the time being, in a kiosk. And when we die, that inevitable rite of passage will be recorded to mark the end of our life.
Mr Speaker, it is not enough that the state collects all this information, it is critical that every citizen is able to benefit from the digitisation process. The benefits range from being able to give directions to our address for deliveries and being able to gain access to government services without having to go to the Ministries. The Rural Telephony Project, being undertaken by GIFEC, is working to fill the void created by the telephone operator’s inability or unwillingness to extend their services to areas they deem uneconomical to operate. It is important to extend basic telephone voice and data connectivity to every part of the country, so we leave no one behind.