Mr. Speaker, the National Identification Authority or identification, for that matter, of citizens of this country and those residing here is something we should have done long ago. And I am happy to note that it was really started during Busia's time but interrupted up and down.
Mr. Speaker, we have very serious identification problems which impede a lot of transactions in this country. Frauds are multiplied just because people getting involved in agreement can vary from place to place, and if you happen to travel and you leave something behind for somebody else to continue you will find that identifying those you are dealing with becomes a problem for the one who took over from you, because in this country we do not have common identification.
I do agree that we should make sure that in implementing this identification proogramme, the Electoral Commission office is properly insulated. There is no doubt about it. But it is also true to say that when identification is done and done properly, the first authority to jump at it will be the Electoral Commission itself.
Taking the budget of the Electoral Commission, during the last elections we spent about ¢240 billion. Which component of this budget comes through the identification exercise? If you do this preliminary work and it is done properly, in fact, the cost of elections in this country will drop drastically because you would have done certain fundamental work that will be available for the Electoral Commission at its own volition to use. Therefore, I agree that all of us should think through its implementation to make sure that it is usable by all who may need
it.
Mr. Speaker, I am very much worried about even the financial sector. We have tried several times, in loan administration, to deal with identification and it has not been easy. If you know the number of bad loans that have arisen because of lack of identification, you would have seen that this Bill is really important.
Mr. Speaker, I pose the question. All our neighbours in the French-speaking countries have identification (ID) cards. What is there that makes the Ivorians, the Togolese, to be able to administer ID cards and effectively use them for their national transactions but Ghana is not able? Mr. Speaker, I believe very strongly that we should not throw the baby out with the bath water. We should look at it, it is important, we need it; it is part of development.
All over the world we travel; you all travel. Do you ever go to a place where you need your passport to be identified? The answer is no. If you are involved in an accident or there is a problem, you just pull your ID card and off you go. They just take your number from your ID card and the transaction is completed.
Mr. Speaker, there is no doubt that the National Identification Authority Bill is very important. To me, it should have taken place long ago but it is better to be late than never. Let us think through it, on a bipartisan manner; let us look at it as a Parliament. Let us look at it as Ghanaians and let us come out with an Identification Authority Bill that will answer most of our questions when it comes to identification, including even the Office of the Electoral Commission, because it is going to make things cheaper as we move along.
Mr. Speaker, with these comments, I want to throw my weight behind the Bill.
Mr. E. T. Mensah (NDC -- Ningo/
Prampram): Mr. Speaker, I also rise to support this Bill but the little concerns that I have, almost all the things that I wanted to say have been said; it is about the use of the data which will be available.
We are talking about the various agencies but my worry is knowing what elections bring about at the end of elections in our part of the subregion. For the moment, I believe that we should not allow the Electoral Commission to access that information. If they want to gather information for electoral purposes, they have to do it because they have been remotely compelled to use the information.
I think that we should be very certain about that for now because we are developing and there would be a stage where we would have a totally and truly independent Electoral Commission which can access all kinds of data or information from whatever source. But for now, given our history, where we are coming from, as a subregion, now even as a country per se, we should be very grateful about just allowing the Electoral Commission to use the data like all other organizations.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. With this contribution I support the motion.
