Free Ghana Card registration records low turnout

By Christabel Oboshie ANNAN, Accra

The National Identification Authority’s (NIA) Registration of first-time applicants aged 15 years and above has commenced at eight out of NIA’s 16 Regional Offices and all its 276 District Offices.

When The Finder visited the Ayawaso West Wuogon District Office, the Okaikwei North District Office and the Accra Regional Office to observe the level of patronage from the public, turn-out was low.

As is typical of deadlines associated with Ghana card registration, people may wait until the last minute to showup for registration leading to long queues.

Ayawaso West Wuogon District Office

On arrival at the Ayawaso West Wuogon District office at 10:36am, only one person had been registered at the centre.

The NIA officials were seen waiting on the would-be applicants to trickle in.

The Assistant Administration Officer, Constance Tweneboa, said that the centre had been open since 8am and as at 10:36am only one person had visited the place to register.

She noted that as it was the first day, she was sure the message is yet to reach a lot of unregistered applicants to come around.

“We hope that in the week the numbers will be encouraging,” she stressed.

While departing from the premises at 11:15am, it was observed that three more people had visited to register while another had come to collect his card.

Okaikwei North District Office

At 11:30am when The Finder got to the Okaikwei North District Office, about 10 people were seen patiently waiting outside with their guarantors to register for the first time.

The NIA official at this District declined to speak to The Finder saying that they were not allowed to give out information to the media.

Joyce Dadzie, an applicant said she arrived at 11:00am and was done with the whole process by 11:30am.

She called on others to quickly take advantage of the process since it was free and fast.

While departing from the premises at 12:20pm about seven more applicants had joined the queue to register.

Accra Regional Office & Okaikwei South District Office

Upon arrival at the Accra Regional office, about four people were seen outside waiting for their turn to register.

The Regional Office also hosts the Okaikwei South District Office on its premises.

As at 2pm, the two centres has registered about 15 people.

The Regional Registration Officer, Foster Okyere-Darko said that the turnout on the first day has been quite okay.

He stated that because of the initial communiqué that said the NIA was registering public sector workers for two weeks but truncating it over the weekend has resulted in the low numbers recorded so far.

He noted that the message has not trickled down to most Ghanaians because of the truncation but believes that the numbers will shoot up during the week.

“As at 2pm, we are recording quite some significant numbers but the turnout in the other District offices has been okay” he added.

He is hopeful Ghanaians who haven’t registered so far will visit their District offices to do so.

“Greater Accra has 35 District offices including the Regional office which are registering Ghanaians from 15 years and above for free,” he said.

Mr. Okyere-Darko stated that reports from the 34 District offices so far indicate that there are no challenges and the numbers are more than what was recorded during last week’s registration for the Public Sector Workers.

The Regional Registration Officer for Greater Accra called on Ghanaians who have not yet received their cards to visit the various District offices to retrieve them.

“We entreat the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs), Assembly Members and Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDA’s) to help us to move to their various communities to issue the Ghana Card out,” he stressed.

Emmanuel Larbi, an applicant said he arrived at 1:30pm to register and was done with the process in less than 30 minutes. He said he was asked to come for his card on Monday.

The free service for first-time applicants will not be available at Ho, Koforidua, Kumasi, Sunyani, Sefwi-Wiawso, Takoradi, Tamale, and Techiman NIA Regional Offices which currently operate as Premium Registration Centers.