Confusion Over Ghana Card as an ePassport

The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) has recently tweeted that the use of a state’s national identity card for international travel is not at the discretion of the issuing authority but is a decision for the receiving state.

This can lead to confusion, as the recent case from Ghana demonstrates.

The story probably starts a lot earlier, but news reports in the Ghanian press dated 13 February ¹ reported that at a ceremony held on 9 February in Montreal, ICAO certified the Ghana Card, the country’s national ID card, as an ePassport. With this certification, the report went on, the Ghana Card has been included in the ICAO Public Key Directory (PKD).

The acceptance of the country signing certificate authority (CSCA) certificate into the PKD means that it would be made available to state authorities worldwide, allowing them to verify the electronic documents issued by Ghana. Receiving states, possessing the public key certificate, could be confident in the authenticity of the documents as well as the integrity of the data stored on the documents.