The National Identification Authority (NIA) has revealed that it disconnected the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) from its Identity Verification Service (IVS) platform due to non-compliance over an outstanding debt exceeding GH¢376 million.
The disconnection, which took effect on Tuesday, August 5, 2025, follows several unsuccessful attempts by the NIA to persuade the GRA to settle the debt or commit to a payment plan.
The IVS platform is a critical national infrastructure that allows both public and private institutions to verify the identities of individuals in real time using the Ghana Card database. The disconnection has raised concerns over its potential impact on services that rely on the platform for authentication and identity verification.
Head of Corporate Affairs at the NIA, Williams Ampomah Darlas, expressed frustration over the GRA’s continued non-compliance.
“We have written to them [GRA] countless times, but we haven’t gotten a response from them. We decided to escalate it.
“We even went to the extent of escalating it to Parliament… We waited for a while, and GRA was not responding, so we gave them our last notice, which was on July 29, to show commitment; other than that, we will block them from our system. We didn’t hear from them, so effective August 5, we blocked them,” he said.
Mr. Darlas also disclosed that other institutions, including the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), the Lands Commission, and Hubtel, have been accessing the NIA’s data through the GRA without authorization and in violation of existing laws.
“What is disheartening is that there are other institutions that are also sourcing data from the GRA, especially ECG, Lands Commission, and Hubtel, which breach the law. And we have reached out to them.
He stressed, “You have taken our data, you are not paying what you are supposed to pay to us, and you are giving the data to other institutions, breaching the law with impunity. We got to where we are now as a result of non-compliance. It saddens our hearts because we understand the implications of this. But as an Authority, we also need to work; this is affecting our operational abilities.”
The NIA has called for immediate intervention and accountability to ensure that the critical infrastructure continues to function effectively and sustainably.
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