President John Dramani Mahama has endorsed Margins ID Group and applauded its Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Moses Kwesi Baiden Jr, for the pioneering role in reshaping Ghana’s digital identity landscape through the Ghana Card.
Speaking at the 9th Ghana CEO Summit in Accra last Monday, the President highlighted how the Ghana Card had become much more than just an identity card (ID), saying it had become the backbone of a digitally sovereign and competitive economy.
Before the President mounted the podium to deliver the keynote address, the CEO of Margins ID Group had delivered his perspectives on digital ID in a presentation titled, “Digital Identity for Business and Economic Empowerment”.
President Mahama said other African nations, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, were looking to replicate Ghana’s model.
“I recently received a request from the DR Congo asking for a reference on Moses and the Ghana Card system,” the President said.
“They wanted to know if they had done a good job.
I said, yes, they did,” the President declared.
He pointed to practical innovations such as the planned reintroduction of road tolls, which would be facilitated by the Ghana Card.
“Every vehicle is now linked to its owner’s Ghana Card.
We no longer need old tolls and those cards that you stand and open and all that.
We just take a picture of your car, and then it would take the bill to your mobile money or your bank accounts and just pay one cedi,” the President disclosed.
Real-time integration
Explaining the real-time integration of the Ghana Card with key government systems such as that of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), Mr Baiden said: “You can input your national ID, conduct biometric verification, and within 300 milliseconds, your data is reflected in the DVLA database.”
That means that anyone who buys a vehicle will be registered in their names only and nobody else, as the owner’s driver’s licence will be connected to their real ID, whether they register remotely or in person.
“When you are stopped, with or without your driver’s licence, you can be identified as the owner of the car, we can know whether your driving licence has expired, we can know whether your insurance has expired and we can certainly know whether the car you are driving is yours,” Mr Baiden stated.
The Margins ID Group CEO described the Ghana Card as the “infrastructure of trust” needed for modern governance, economic growth and social inclusion.
Health
In the health sector, Mr Baiden explained that babies were now being issued with national ID numbers at birth.
“The National Health Insurance Authority can now bridge data gaps, eliminate fraudulent claims and enable targeted healthcare planning. Medical records will be securely stored in the cloud, accessible in emergencies through credentialed doctors, saving lives and improving service delivery,” he stated.
Mr Baiden said the transformation also extended to national security, where “the police, immigration, and intelligence services can now generate and act on instant search lists, locally developed, allowing real-time tracking of suspects across borders”.
He said the system could verify identities with or without the physical card, using only fingerprints, stressing, “The days of unidentified victims in mortuaries are behind us.”
PPPs
Mr Baiden reinforced the critical role of public-private partnerships.
“Since 2012, the Margins-led PPP has enabled Ghana to build and maintain a robust identity infrastructure at scale.
This is not theoretical. It is a living, functioning ecosystem of governance, built in the interest of Ghanaians and used every day by both the public and private sectors.”
He called for digital sovereignty, saying the country could not merely consume foreign technology.
“We must build, innovate and shape our destiny.
The Ghana Card is not just a card; it is the engine of transformation, a gateway to inclusion and a testament to what Ghana can achieve when we apply our intelligence and vision in service of generations yet to be born.”