Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia believes age-cheating in football will soon be a thing of the past, thanks to the Ghana Card.
According to him, the phenomenon of fake certificates and multiple ages in sports will be curbed when all data of individuals are interlinked.
So far, more than 14 million Ghanaians have been issued with the Ghana Card, according to the National Identification Authority (NIA).
“Fake birth certificates were a big problem for our country and it made it very difficult for people to trust our documents at embassies and everywhere because people will just go and have fake birth certificates,” Bawumia said, as quoted by Ghanaweb.
“In fact when we went to the birth and death registry, we found three different databases and we had to harmonize the databases.
“Once you have a unique identity you’ll not have fake birth certificates as there will be no football age versus normal age. That business will come to an end.”
He added: “Recently you would know that our women’s team was banned for presenting some overaged players. Hopefully now we are going to strictly require that they bring their Ghana card before they are going to be registered to play.”
Last year, seven players who failed the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) test were dropped from the Black Starlets squad.
The Ghana card ensures that the bearer’s bank account, sim card, National Digital Property Address, and other personal details are linked. The players were dropped from camp after their test results came out with grade six.
Meanwhile, in June, FIFA slapped Ghana’s U17 women’s team two-year ban over age cheating following their ultimate World Cup qualifier against Morocco.
