Ghana card mass registration plagued with network challenges in Volta Region

The National Identification Authority (NIA) is unable to issue Ghana cards to applicants in a number of centres in its mass registration exercise in the Volta Region on Monday.

Applicants had queued at some 350 centres designated for the exercise as early as 7:00 am but the Authority was unable to upload data of the applicants onto the authorities severs.

Even though the staff of the NIA did not speak on record, they explained that the computers will have to be logged on to a server for the exercise to commence in full force.

Ghanaians from 15 years and above, who have been targeted to be registered will be issued smart, dual-interface Ghana Cards across all 18 municipalities and districts of the Region.

This follows the completion of the exercise in the Greater Accra Region.

Some of the applicants told Citi News on Monday that the process was running smoothly except for network challenges.

“We are not taking the pictures just because they have not given us access to take the pictures and other details into their system. So, they are just filing the forms and nobody has told us anything”, one applicant said.

Similar challenges experienced in Accra

In Accra, the registration process for the National Identification Card, also known as Ghana Card, was fraught with several challenges.

Applicants complained of long queues, network failure, malfunctioning equipment and other hectic processes they endured before securing their cards.

This made the exercise very tedious for most applicants who were angry because they had to leave their work to the registration centres.

NIA admitted that it missed its registration target in the Region because it was 100,000 short of its 2.3 million target for the capital.

Meanwhile, a total of 581, 767 Ghana cards are yet to be issued by the National Identification Authority after the end of the registration process in the Greater Accra Region.

The outstanding cards which were not given to the applicants due to internet connectivity have however been printed and are due for collection in some zones.