- CPVS says contract with new firm will “start from scratch” after Afritech exit
- Ghana’s Margins Group seen as frontrunner; built Ghana Card system
- Project halted in 2024 after $444 mln overbilling concerns
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is preparing to sign a contract with a Ghanaian company to produce national identification cards, the Presidential Strategic Oversight Council (CPVS) said on July 25. The deal, reportedly with Margins Group, is in the final stages of negotiation following the termination of a previous agreement with Afritech in August 2024.
CPVS coordinator François Muamba Tshishimbi and National Population Identification Office (ONIP) director Richard Ilunga recently confirmed the new partnership but gave no further details on the selection process. Margins Group, founded in 1990 in Accra, developed Ghana’s biometric “Ghana Card” and has had its proposals under review in Kinshasa for months.
The project will begin from scratch, combining administrative registration with targeted categorization of groups such as students, military personnel, Congolese abroad, and refugees. More than 5,000 permanent offices are planned nationwide, with cards provided free of charge unless lost or renewed.
National ID issuance resumed in DRC in 2022 after a 40-year hiatus, starting with a pilot that produced around 700 cards in Kinshasa. The earlier project—awarded in September 2023 to Malian businessman Samba Bathily’s Afritech, working with French biometric firm Idemia—was cancelled in 2024 following a Finance Inspectorate (IGF) probe. The IGF cited $444 million in overbilling, particularly in real estate costs, and flagged irregularities in the financial structure.
Ronsard Luabeya
