Mahama charges NIA to address challenges with Ghana card registration

Former President John Dramani Mahama has charged officials of the National Identification Authority to address all challenges militating against the ongoing Ghana Card registration exercise in the Upper West Region and other parts of the country.

Speaking to the media in Wa after monitoring some registration centres, the former president said the Ghana Card will be one of the surest ways to identify Ghanaian citizens and ensure equitable distribution of social services.

“Since I arrived in Wa, I received a few complaints about the National Identification Card process. So I visited the centre myself and spoke to the officer in charge and he talked about the challenges that they face. But they say they are keeping up and people should continue coming so that everybody should be able to register.”

He also asked the general public to get involved in the Ghana card registration process as the card will be used as one of the main identification instruments for elections in 2020.

“It’s going to be one of the main identification instruments for elections next year if the Electoral Commission decides to do a new voters register. If you have a Ghana Card together with a passport or birth certificate these are instruments you can use to prove that you’re a Ghanaian,” he said.

The National Identification Authority is currently registering Ghanaians in some five regions after wrapping up in the Northern, North East, and Savannah Regions.

While the exercise began on November 8 for the Ahafo, Bono East and Bono regions, that of the Upper East and Upper West regions started on November 11 and is to end on the 23rd day of the month.

The Head of Corporate Affairs at the NIA, Francis Palmdeti ahead of the start of the process said that his outfit was poised and on schedule to round up the entire exercise as planned.

Registration challenges

The registration process for the National Identification Card, also known as Ghana Card, has been fraught with several challenges in the various centres since it started in April.

Applicants from various parts of the country have complained of long queues, network failure, malfunctioning equipment, and other hectic processes they are compelled to go through before securing their cards.

NIA registers nearly three million Ghanaians 

Meanwhile, in spite of all these challenges, the National Identification Authority (NIA) has as of September 2019 had registered 2,902,526 eligible Ghanaians for the Ghana Card in the Greater Accra, Volta, and Oti regions since the registration process began.

It said out of the figure, 2,590,526 cards had been printed and 1,718,021 cards had been issued to applicants in the three regions as of September 14, 2019.

Source: citinewsroom.com