The National Identification Authority (NIA) has extended the Ghana card registration exercise in the Central, Western and Western North Regions by four more days.
The exercise which was scheduled to end in the above regions on Tuesday, February 18, 2020, will now be completed on Saturday, February 22, 2020.
A statement from NIA and signed by its Communications Director, ACI Francis Pamdetti urged prospective applicants to take advantage of the extension period to get registered.
“The National Identification Authority (NIA) wishes to inform the general public that the mass registration exercise in the above-named clustered has been extended by four (4) days. Thus, the exercise originally scheduled to end on Tuesday 18th February 2020 in the said regions will now end on Saturday 22nd February 2020,” it read.
It also said, the decision also follows “a careful review of the operational performance of the exercise, including the challenges encountered since Monday 27th January 2020 when the exercise commenced.”
“The decision is also a positive response to requests from various stakeholders for an extension of the duration of the exercise in the said regions. It is expected that the extension will afford more citizens in the clustered regions further opportunity to register for the Ghana Card,” the statement added.
Registration figure so far
As of 15th February 2020, a total of 1,848,716 residents of the three regions had been registered, bringing the national registration total to 9,178,982.
Out of which 7,936,257 cards had been printed and 5,620,411 cards issued.
The NIA also noted that it is satisfied that the said extension will not adversely impact the one-year deadline for the mass registration exercise which started in the Greater Accra Region on 29th April, 2019 and is slated for completion in the Eastern Region by 31st March 2020.
NIA to get district offices for Ghana card registration
Meanwhile, the NIA says plans are far advanced to get office spaces in regions and districts to allow Ghanaians to register for their cards after the end of the mass registration exercise.
According to ACI Francis Palmdeti, the mop-up registration in the yet to be established offices at the districts will be done at no cost to applicants.
“When we go to the new regions, we meet with the District and Municipal executives and some of the discussions we have with them is the issue of office space for our district offices. The discussions are ongoing and so we won’t anticipate any challenge with where to site our district offices. We are not resting on our laurels. What we will be doing immediately after March is to have district offices where registration will continue for all those who were not able to register during the mass registration,” he stated.
NIA commenced the Ghana Card registration exercise in April 2019 on Monday, January 27, 2020.
Some Ghanaians who visited the various registration centres to take part in the process had their hopes dashed following logistical challenges.
The NIA has so far covered 12 out of the 16 regions in Ghana.
