Missing or Lost Ghana Card? Full Steps on how to replace/Apply Again
Ghana Card is a national identity card issued by the Ghana National identification authority(NIA) to citizens of the country, both residents and non-residents, including foreigners who are legal and permanent residents.
The Ghana Card is used in traveling. It validates your identity at borders, airports, and police checkpoints when traveling.
It’s currently not in use as the government has directed that it will be effective from 2022 (the official date has not been disclosed yet).
In September 2019, the chief executive of the National identification authority, Ken Attafuah, stated that from October 2019 Bank of Ghana (BoG) would direct all commercial banks in the country to accept the Ghana card as a means of identification.
The card is to become Ghana’s main identification card. The card can also be a visa to all countries under the “ECOWAS” and other non-African countries like Jamaica. If you have not registered for the ghana card yet, you should know that you can register online through the NIA portal.
Registering for the card is at no cost to Ghanaians, but foreigners living in the country wishing to have a ghana card will pay a fee.
Frequent questions being asked nationwide can apply for a ghana card again when the old one gets missing. Some might not even care about registering for the card at all, but there will be consequences for anyone who doesn’t register for the card and have their identity in the country’s system.
Suppose your personal information is not in the National Identification Register. In that case, you may be excluded from the formal economy of Ghana and lose out on several social, economic, and political benefits.
In the case of a missing card, you’re required to pay a fee of GHS 20 to have your card replaced.
How to replace a missing Ghana Card
Not many people know that there’s a chance to replace their missing ghana cards, so most people who have lost theirs have given up trying to replace them if they never find the missing one. Some lose it through theft of the purses and wallets or by being careless or forgetfulness. So in this article, I’m going to discuss the necessary steps to be taken when you misplace your Ghana card and how to apply for one again.
Here are the steps to replace a missing Ghana Card:
- First, you need to file a police report
- Submit the police documents to the NIA
- Claim an NIA form
- Go through the commission of oath
- Submit your stamped forms back to the NIA office
Now, let’s explain each step in details
First, you need to file a police report
Filing a police report in the case of a missing Ghana card doesn’t necessarily mean it was stolen.
You’re filing the report, so the police give you a document to take to the National Identification Authority(NIA).
Submit the police documents to the NIA
The NIA office is located at Shiashi around Legon in Accra. You can find the full list of NIA Offices in all districts here.
You head there and submit the document to claim that you misplaced the former card and want to apply for a new one.
Claim an NIA form
You’ll be given a form to fill after putting forth your claims of a missing card. You’d have to pay for the card for GHS 30 (this is the only fee you pay for the replacement of your Ghana Card).
Your police report will be inspected to check for the authenticity of your claim.
Go through the commission of oath
Once you’ve filled the forms, you’ll be asked to go to the commission of oath office to get your forms stamped.
The commission of oath office is located just beside the NIA office.
Submit your stamped forms back to the NIA office
After your forms have been stamped, you the commission of oath you’ll need to return the forms to the NIA office.
You’ll be asked to return in a week or two times when your documents have been processed, and your card is ready.
Conclusion
It’s very important to have a Ghana card at all times. So meaning in the case of your card getting missing, it shouldn’t take you more than a month to get it back because it’s a very important card that validates your citizenship as a Ghanaian.
Your inability to establish your identity in the future could make life difficult for you in Ghana since the government is planning to make the Ghana Card our main identity card formally.
