Prime News Ghana

'Victor Kusi Boateng does not exist in our system’ – NIA replies Ablakwa

By Vincent Ashitey
Shares
facebook sharing button Share
twitter sharing button Tweet
email sharing button Email
sharethis sharing button Share

The National Identification Authority (NIA) has denied registering any applicant by the name Victor Kusi Boateng.

According to the Authority, its National Identity Register (NIR) does not contain any record of a person named Victor Kusi Boateng.

"NIA has no record of anyone bearing the name Victor Kusi Boateng in the NIR; and NIA has no record in the NIR of any person born on 7th September 1971 or any other day with the name Victor Kusi Boateng, a statement said.

The Authority also denied any wrongdoing in the issuance of a Ghana Card bearing the name Kwabena Adu Gyamfi.

READ ALSO: Ablakwa files two RTI requests over Rev. Kusi Boateng’s identity

According to the NIA, the registration officials are bound to register and issue a Ghana Card to an applicant who presents any of the valid documents specified by law including a birth certificate, valid passport, valid residence permit, valid certificate of acquired citizenship; and any other information as may be required by the Authority.

“A person’s popularity is immaterial to the NIA registration process. Indeed, a popular name is not necessarily a person’s real name. NIAofficials register applicants based on the names the applicants present to the officials, as captured in any of the above-specified identity documents, such as their birth certificates or passports,” a statement issued by the NIA said on Thursday.

North Tongu Member of Parliament, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has questioned the credibility of the national identification exercise after his alleged revelation of the ‘dual identity’ of Secretary of the National Cathedral Board of Trustees, Reverend Victor Kusi-Boateng.

In a tweet on Monday, the lawmaker demanded explanations from the National Identification Authority (NIA) as to how the popular prophet arrived at their registration centre as Rev. Victor Kusi Boateng but was mysteriously issued a Ghana Card bearing the name Kwabena Adu Gyamfi.

Reacting to the claims by the lawmaker, the NIA said contrary to the MP’s assertions, the following constitutes the facts with the issuance of a Ghana Card to Kwabena Adu Gyamfi:

a. During the mass registration exercise, Kwabena Adu Gyamfi went to an NIA registration center called Vicandy School at Asuoyeboah

in Kumasi on 15th January 2020 to register for the Ghana Card;

b. He submitted to NIA registration officials a valid Ghanaian passport issued by the Passport Office on 16th May 2018, with the name Kwabena Adu Gyamfi; the expiry date in the said passport is 15th May 2023;

c. NIA registration officials registered Kwabena Adu Gyamfi using his valid passport as the base identity document for his registration, and duly issued him with a Ghana Card;

d. NIA has no record of anyone bearing the name Victor Kusi Boateng in the NIR; and

e. NIA has no record in the NIR of any person born on 7th September 1971 or any other day with the name Victor Kusi Boateng.

The Authority insisted the credibility of the entire registration exercise is solidly intact adding the “credibility of the exercise cannot be questioned simply because Hon. Ablakwa is apparently unable to accept the science and law behind the issuance of a Ghana Card to Kwabena Adu Gyamfi.”