Ghana's government has changed the rules for how businesses check people's identity cards. Instead of looking at the card or making a photocopy, businesses must now use a phone app to scan the card and confirm the person's identity through their fingerprints or eye scans. The head of Ghana's National Identification Authority (NIA), Wisdom Yayra Koku Deku, announced the change on July 16, 2026, saying: "It is now an offence to photocopy or visually inspect a Ghana Card for the purpose of transaction. Biometric verification is now mandatory." BBC

The Ghana Card is a national identity card that all Ghanaian citizens and foreign residents in Ghana must carry. It holds ten fingerprints, iris scans (detailed pictures of the eye), a photograph, and a signature. People already need it for banking, registering a phone SIM card, getting a passport, and obtaining a driver's licence. BBC

To verify the card under the new rules, a business uses a mobile phone app that scans the card and checks the person's biometric data — like fingerprints or eye scans — against the NIA's records. This system is called the Institutional Verification Service Platform, or IVSP. The NIA has told organizations that have not yet signed up for the IVSP to start the process right away. NIA

There are fines for not following the new rules. Organizations that keep using photocopies or visual checks can be fined up to 24,000 Ghanaian cedis — about $2,100 USD or £1,550 GBP. Individuals who do not comply can be fined up to 6,000 cedis, about $525 USD or £390 GBP. The government says it will brief the public in the coming days on how the rules will be put into practice. BBC

The NIA has been working for some time to get more people their Ghana Cards and to clear a backlog of unprinted cards. In February 2025, the NIA received 700,000 blank cards from its technical partners to print the cards that were still owed to people. The NIA announced this delivery on February 18, 2025. NIA

The broader context here is a shift from checking paper copies to checking identity in real time. The old way — making a photocopy or comparing the card to someone's face — is easy to fool with fakes, stolen cards, or someone who simply looks similar to the real cardholder. The new system requires a live scan of the cardholder's fingerprints or eye data, so the card will not work for anyone else. Think of it like the difference between showing a photocopy of your passport at airport security versus placing your finger on a live scanner that checks who you actually are. The cost is that every business, from banks to phone companies to licensing offices, now has to connect to the NIA's system and keep a working phone scanner at every service point.

For institutions, the timeline is tight. The NIA's instruction to sign up immediately, combined with real fines, suggests the adjustment period may be brief. Organizations used to photocopy-based checks will need to update their processes, train staff on the verification app, and make sure they can connect to the NIA's platform. Small businesses and service points in rural areas without reliable internet or smartphones may struggle the most, though the NIA has not said whether any exemptions or phased rollouts will be available.

The upcoming public briefing will be the next thing to watch. Key questions include how the rules will actually be enforced, whether there will be a grace period before fines start, and how the NIA plans to help institutions in areas with poor digital infrastructure. There are also data-protection concerns: sending every identity check through one central system means more sensitive personal data flowing through it, and the NIA has not yet explained how it will protect that data from breaches or unauthorized access.