There was chaos at the Dade We registration centre at Teshie in the Ledzokuku constituency where the Ghana Card registration was ongoing on Friday.
Applicants numbering over a hundred were agitated at the slow pace of the registration process.
[contextly_sidebar id=”zE48iOU2cUU1vF3noLvpoikVtk3Bup29″]Others were also unhappy about the delays in receiving their cards after registering about a month ago.
Speaking to Citi News, a frustrated applicant said there are only three machines instead of five making the registration very slow.
“It is very slow. The crowd here is large, we are supposed to be given four to five machines but there only three here and the one lady out of the three ladies manning the machine is sick leaving two people and the supervisor is not even here,” he said.
The Ghana Card registration exercise in the Greater Accra Region will end on Saturday, July 6, 2019.
In May, there was chaos across some registration centres of the National Identification Authority (NIA) within the Ga West Municipal Assembly.
Members of the public who were at the centres to register for their Ghana Cards complained about long queues, despite some arriving as early as 1 am.
Registration stalled at some centres while at other areas, it progressed slowly.
One of the frustrated registrants told Citi News that: “I am the second person in the queue because I came here around 12:30 am. I have filled my form and they are still not telling me anything. All they say is that I should be waiting here. It is not fair.”
Some also said they were compelled to pay money due to the extremely slow process.
The exercise has been fraught with challenges including the shortage of registration forms.
Head of Corporate Affairs of the NIA, Assistant Commissioner of Immigration (ACI) Francis Palmdetti maintained that the exercise is free and anyone caught flouting the rules, would be dealt with according to the law.
“We do not condone or endorse any form of payment at any of the registration centers. This exercise is free an no member of the general public is expected to pay any amount of money at any point in the process. Even with the Commissioners of Oaths who are at the registration centers are not supposed to take money for the service they render, because all the officials at our centers are on contract and are being paid for the work they are doing. ”
“This exercise is free of charge and so if at any point in the process; money is demanded by any of our officials or you see them taking money from people in order to register them or you are told that [registration] forms have run out when indeed they have been hidden so monies can be taken from people – we expect the general public to report such issues,” he advised.