Management of the National Identification Authority (NIA) are expected in Parliament next week to answer questions regarding the initial botched roll out of the new national ID Card popularly known as Ghana Card.

The NIA has since issued about 500 cards following the initial technical hitch.

However, speaking on the floor of Parliament, Minority leader Haruna Iddrisu said the sector minister, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful must also appear before the House to answer questions regarding the cost of the project and procurement processes employed.

“We are expecting the officials of the National Identification Authority to come here to share with us and to respond to issues of reports in the media of $1.2billion Ghana cards and matters of procurement,” Mr. Iddrisu stated.

Executive Secretary for the National Identification Authority (NIA), Prof. Kenneth Attafuah had earlier described as false, claims by Assin Central Parliamentarian that the national identification project costs the nation $1.2 billion.

According to Prof. Attafuah, the entire project which includes the issuance of a 148-kilobyte capacity chip and multipurpose Ghana Card, will cost $293 million of which $124 million will be charged to the Ghanaian taxpayer while the remaining $169 million will be borne by Identity Management System (IMS), a subsidiary of Margins Group.

The Ghana Card project, which seeks to modernize and formalize the Ghanaian economy, was one of the campaign promises of the New Patriotic Party.

Government has said it will help in the establishment of a credible national database and serve as the primary ID card that citizens will use to access all services in the country, including traveling within the West African sub-region.

When fully implemented the Ghana Card will be the only valid ID for application for a bank account, passport, telephone number, property acquisition, driver’s license and many more.