The National Identification Authority (NIA) will resume mass registration in the Eastern Region from 18th to 27th June 2020.
The Authority also indicated that the issuance of Ghana cards, which began on Wednesday, 10th June 2020 at 5,635 registration centres across the country will continue till Thursday, 18th June 2020.
“The exercise will enable approximately 3,934,073 Ghanaians who could not receive their cards during the mass registration exercise to do so.”
“The cards are being issued to Ghanaians at the same centres where they registered during the mass registration exercise. Nearly 800,000 Ghanaians have received the Ghana Card since the exercise began last Wednesday, 10th June 2020,” the Authority said in a statement.
Registered persons who are yet to receive their Ghana cards have been asked to go for them at the various registration centres.
“All persons who registered but have not received their Ghana Cards are requested to go to the registration centre where they registered to pick up their card. To receive the card, a Ghanaian must present the registration application form, the printout or receipt given at the time of registration, or provide other relevant information to be cross-checked against his/her photograph and personal details contained in a Registration Centre Album.”
The Authority expects that by the end of 18th June, 2010, “over 11 million Ghanaians will possess the Ghana Card.”
“Out of that number, a total of 10,295,578 Ghanaians will be aged 18y ears and over,” the statement added.
Below is the registration schedule for the mop-up exercise:
| REGIONS | START | END | |
| 1. | Upper East | 18/06/2020 | 3/07/2020 |
| 2. | Upper West | 18/06/2020 | 3/07/2020 |
| 3. | Northern | 10/07/2020 | 24/07/2020 |
| 4. | North East | 10/07/2020 | 24/07/2020 |
| 5. | Savannah | 10/07/2020 | 24/07/2020 |
| 6. | Central | 4/07/2020 | 23/07/2020 |
| 7. | Western | 4/07/2020 | 23/07/2020 |
| 8. | Western North | 4/07/2020 | 23/07/2020 |
| 9. | Volta | 30/07/2020 | 9/08/2020 |
| 10. | Oti | 30/07/2020 | 9/08/2020 |
| 11. | Ashanti | 30/07/2020 | 13/08/2020 |
| 12. | Greater Accra | 16/08/2020 | 29/08/2020 |
| 13. | Bono | 20/08/2020 | 4/09/2020 |
| 14. | Bono East | 20/08/2020 | 4/09/2020 |
| 15. | Ahafo | 20/08/2020 | 4/09/2020 |
It is also expected that a total of 16.7 million Ghanaians would have been registered and issued with Ghana cards when the mop-up exercise is completed.
The NIA suspended the Ghana Card registration exercise in the Eastern Region following an interlocutory injunction application filed at the High Court restraining the Authority from continuing with the registration exercise.
Before the suspension, the NIA, however, insisted that its decision to carry on with the Ghana Card registration exercise in the Eastern Region was not violating the directives concerning public gatherings.
This was despite reports that citizens looking to register for the card were massing up at some registration centres in contravention of expert advise for curbing the spread of the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Observers also criticised the NIA for continuing with the exercise.
The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), for example, said the continuation of the registration was a breach of international and regional human rights instruments, while CHRAJ in a statement also said the NIA’s actions were a disregard of the existing World Health Organization (WHO) precautionary measures aimed at containing and combating the novel coronavirus.
The Ghana Medical Association (GMA) also complained that the continuation of the exercise defeated the precautionary measures declared by the state to combat the pandemic.
Source:Fiilafmonline/CitiNews
