Ghana’s New Digital ID System Faces Backlash Over Registration Hurdles — Are We Really Ready to Go Fully Digital?
A few weeks ago, I accompanied my aunt to get registered for Ghana’s new digital ID. She’s 58, barely uses her phone for more than WhatsApp, and definitely doesn’t trust anything that says “biometric.” I figured it would take maybe an hour or two. But five hours, two queue fights, one “system down” announcement, and a light rainstorm later, we left with nothing but frustration and a bottle of warm water.
Honestly, I wasn’t sure if it would work to begin with. The concept? Brilliant. A modern digital identity system that streamlines access to banking, healthcare, social services—you name it. In theory, it should make life easier. But in practice? Well… let’s just say the process is not for the faint-hearted.
In my experience, anytime we try to digitize something in Ghana, we forget the “human” part. The people who still live in rural areas with poor internet. The folks who don’t have smartphones or know how to scan QR codes. The elderly who can barely read the forms, let alone understand why their fingerprint has to be scanned five times.
And then there’s the weather. I know it sounds like a random complaint, but it’s real. The same week thousands of people were asked to go out and register, Accra was battling serious flooding again. Roads were blocked. Areas were submerged. And still, people were expected to show up, on time, to registration centers that sometimes didn’t even have shelter or working computers. Like, who planned this?
I might be wrong, but I feel like we sometimes rush into big ideas without thinking about the little things that actually make them work. Yes, we want to go digital. But are we creating an inclusive system? Or just another long line of headaches wrapped in “modernization”?
Let’s not even talk about the attitudes at some of the registration centers. I’ve seen people—especially the elderly—being spoken to like they’re wasting someone’s time. No patience. No empathy. Just “Next!” and “System slow, come tomorrow.”
And yet, despite all of that, people still try. Because this ID is tied to everything now. Without it, you can’t open a bank account, get a passport, or sometimes even register a SIM card. So people queue. They wait. They hope the system comes back up before it rains again.
Look, I’m not saying scrap the whole thing. I’m saying fix it. Make it work for everyone. If we want to build a truly digital future, then we need to make sure no one gets left behind—especially not the ones who already feel excluded by technology.
So here’s a question I’ve been thinking about lately: Is our digital transformation lifting people up—or quietly shutting them out one unscanned fingerprint at a time?
Might be worth pausing to think about… before the next rollout. Or the next downpour.
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