Chairman of the newly constituted Board of the National Identification Authority (NIA), Moses Afetsi Positive, has praised the expertise and commitment of Margins ID Group, the company whose subsidiary, Intelligent Card Production Systems (ICPS), conceptualised, designed, and produced the Ghana Card.
He said the company’s work has been central to the establishment of Ghana’s robust National Identification System, which has become a cornerstone of governance and national development.
Speaking during a stakeholder engagement with Margins ID Group, Mr. Positive described the company’s performance as a testament to Ghana’s ability to meet global standards, while stressing the importance of discipline and responsibility in sustaining such achievements.
He was particularly impressed by the various ISO certifications the company has attained — global benchmarks for quality, safety, and sustainability — but expressed fears about possible unethical human conduct by NIA staff using the system built by Margins.
“ISO certifications tell you what to do, but the human factor is something you always have to work with. ISO will help and give you the structures, but people — I know — will always find a way out,” Mr. Positive noted, underscoring the need to combine internationally recognised standards with ethical human behaviour.
Stakeholder meeting to strengthen collaboration
The NIA Board and Margins ID Group convened to review the Ghana Card project and explore strategies to ensure the long-term sustainability of Ghana’s digital identity system.
The meeting marked one of the Board’s first official engagements since its inauguration and reflects a renewed focus on consolidating the Ghana Card project as the backbone of service delivery, economic transactions, and governance in Ghana.
The company had earlier engaged the NIA Board during internal deliberations, but this was the first official visit.
Margins ID Group, through its subsidiary ICPS, reaffirmed its commitment to providing secure, scalable, and innovative identity solutions that align with Ghana’s development agenda.
A tour of Africa’s largest secure card facility
As part of the engagement, the Board toured Margins ID Group’s headquarters and ICPS facility in Accra.
ICPS operates the largest secure card production facility in Sub-Saharan Africa, with stringent compliance frameworks and security protocols designed to protect the integrity of Ghana’s national identification system.
The visit, led by Margins ID Group CEO Moses Baiden and the Group’s Executive Directors, offered the NIA Board a firsthand view of the entire Ghana Card production process — from software development to card issuance.
Board members were also briefed on the global certifications and cybersecurity standards that govern the facility’s operations.
Advanced technology with built-in accountability
Explaining the advanced safeguards embedded in the Ghana Card production process, Mr. Baiden said the printers designed for the project include self-auditing features that guarantee accountability at every stage.
“The printers that we designed for you are self-auditable, so you know where each card goes to and who issues the card,” he revealed.
According to him, this feature not only enhances traceability but also significantly reduces the risks of fraud, ensuring that every Ghana Card can be tracked from production to distribution.
Globally certified standards
ICPS holds multiple international certifications, including ISO 9001:2015 for Quality Management, PCI CP (Payment Card Industry Card Production & Provisioning), and ISO/IEC 27001:2022 for Information Security Management Systems.
Margins ID Group itself has also secured several global accreditations, including ISO/IEC 27001:2022, ISO 22301:2019, ISO 20000:2018, alongside Cybersecurity Establishment and Cybersecurity Service Provider certifications.
These accreditations position the company as a global leader in secure identity solutions.
A decade of strategic partnership with NIA
Margins ID Group has been working with the NIA for over a decade to register Ghanaian citizens at home, citizens abroad, and foreign nationals who have resided in the country for more than three months.
This partnership has turned the Ghana Card into an indispensable requirement for banking, telecommunications, healthcare, and access to government services, firmly embedding it within Ghana’s digital economy.
Beyond ICPS, Margins ID Group operates other subsidiaries, including Margins ID Systems Applications (MIDSA), Identity Management Systems (IMS), and Identity Management Systems II.
Together, these companies bring expertise in biometric software development, identity management, and secure card production — capabilities that have been critical to the success of the Ghana Card project.
Securing Ghana’s digital future
The engagement demonstrated the NIA Board’s determination to deepen collaboration with its technical partners, strengthen Ghana’s national identity system, and enhance public confidence in the Ghana Card.
It also underscored Margins ID Group’s ongoing commitment to delivering secure, globally certified identity solutions that protect national systems while driving Ghana’s digital and economic transformation.
With the Ghana Card now serving as the foundation for banking, healthcare, telecom services, and e-governance, the strengthened partnership between NIA and Margins ID Group promises to further entrench the card as the key enabler of Ghana’s digital future.
