File photo of a Ghana card
Our country is one of the first countries in Africa to have gained political independence from the whites precisely from our British Colonial masters. This means Ghana is one of the pacesetters as far as political aspiration, dream, and ambition are concerned.
What is trending in Ghana now is the registration of its citizenry for the Ghana Card. The Ghana Card is established to be one of the major biometric citizenship identification tools in Ghana other than the citizenry passport.
It is hoped that soon every citizen in this country would possess this tool for identification, telecommunication, and transactional purposes. It would amaze you to learn that lots of people everywhere would love to identify themselves with Ghana.
Here in Africa, it is a gem and pride not only to belong to the race of blacks called African but to belong as well to a particular African country. Is it a modern-day pride to be known as a citizen of Morocco, Tanzania, Angola, and Senegal amongst others?
People all over this continent would boldly love to portray which country they belong to in terms of the citizenship rights and documentation they have. Why would an individual develop so much love for a country in Africa to the extent that they do not want to move to another place to settle and work there, to seek to travel there for comfort, luxury, or vacation?
We have heard so many times that Ghana is the destination in Africa. Others have also said that it is the gateway to Africa. It is possible today though that Ghana is not yet known to some people in other parts of our world. This is despite the fact that Ghana has been very active to a large extent in the FIFA world cup on several occasions. Our youngsters have long been there. Our senior national teams have also been there for a while now.
Come to think of it. Employability and availability of jobs is a spice in one's decision-making plan so far as migration, choosing to stay in any nation or to belong to it is really concerned. Our records here show that so many tourists would love to visit Ghana. Most foreigners would love to stay in Ghana into the distant and unforeseen future to pursue higher degrees, work and live here, make a family here, and search for a spouse here.
Now that the Ghana Card is here to regulate the citizenry and show the authenticity of a person living in Ghana, what are the future prospects for the elderly and youths of other countries who were not born in Ghana, neither have Ghanaian spouses and are in no particular way Ghanaian but have a strong passion for Ghana and would wish to switch nationality into becoming Ghanaian?
I have a genuine feeling that a mechanism like a Ghana Visa Lottery if it were to be introduced into the migration machinery to Ghana would be so relevant and useful. Our political leaders and lawmakers could introduce a new structure for migrating to permanently stay in Ghana, for switching and acquisition of a Ghanaian nationality and citizenry status based on a person's knowledge and skill set, displaying passion, feeling of love, and loyalty to our nationhood amongst others.
Kudos to any political leader who comes to the decision table or blackboard with a suggestion and objective to introduce this innovation. Ghana could be the pacesetter in this dimension too.