Bawumia Clarifies ‘I Will Choose Ghana Card Over 1,000 Interchanges’ Remarks

• Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia has explained controversial comments he made some two weeks ago about choosing the Ghana Card over 1,000 Interchanges
• He stated that people got his comment all wrong, clarifying his statements by mentioning some benefits of the national identification card
• He stressed that he stands by his comment because it will save the country millions of cedis and eradicate corrupt practices in the system

Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia has clarified some controversial remarks he made about choosing the Ghana Card over a thousand interchanges in the country.

The comments generated chaos among some Ghanaians as well as the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).

Giving a speech at the Accra Business School, Dr Bawumia said the Ghana Card which is the national identification card has more benefits than having 1,000 interchanges.

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Justifying his comments, he said, the government has im-plemented a national identification system that has over 16 million Ghanaians with unique identities registered onto it. He admitted that it was a major transformation.

He added that sometimes people do not appreciate the impact the Ghana Card has. He stated that if he is given the option to choose between 1,000 interchanges and a Ghana Card, he will definitely choose the Ghana Card because it has more impactful.

“You can imagine the furore it caused with people asking is this man crazy?” he quizzed.

Buttressing his point, the Vice-president explained that,

"For the first time in the history of our country we have a unique identification system which is biometric and so we can uniquely identify every individual whether they are alive or dead.”

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He believes the situation has eliminated ghost names from public payrolls as well as saving the economy of Ghana millions of cedis.

“So immediately … the case of ghost names on our public sector payroll will become a thing of the past…at National Service Scheme we found 14,000 ghost workers saving annually 114 million Ghana cedis just from one institution because we look for unique identity. Just a couple of days ago SSNIT reported finding 27,000 ghost pensioners and they were being paid 327 million cedis a year.”

According to the Vice President, the Ghana card number has also become the TIN number for Ghanaians which will help integrate databases and improve tax collection and consequently bring in more revenue for the Ghanaian economy.

He stressed that he stands by his comment about preferring the Ghana Card over a thousand interchanges because it will save the country millions of cedis and eradicate corrupt practices in the system.

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Breathtaking Decor At Tracey Boakye And Frank Badu Ntiamoah's Plush Wedding

Tracey Boakye and Frank Badu Ntiamoah are currently the hottest, freshest, most beautiful newlyweds in town.

Their union was nothing but plush and elegant. Kumasi was lit up with #Francey22. @steve_floral was in charge of the planning of the wedding, as well as designing the breathtaking decor at the wedding venue.

The huge chandelier surrounded by artificial flowers which was placed on the ceiling at the centre of the dancefloor was a sight to behold. It was all sparkles with the transparent glass-like chairs, with the white ceiling and floors highlighting the beautiful ornaments, flowers, and other elements used in decorating the event venue.

Source: YEN.com.gh