Mobile work registration officials for the Ghana card in the Eastern Region say their lives are being endangered following the National Identification Authority’s (NIA) decision to go ahead with the mass registration in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Although the NIA has released guidelines for its officers in line with the government’s new directives on public gatherings to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus in Ghana, the registration officers say it is still not in their best interest.
According to the Authority, it will continue with the Ghana Card registration despite the misgivings from some of its officers because of the novel coronavirus.
But one of the officials who spoke on Eyewitness News on condition of anonymity said promises by the Authority to get them personal protective equipment have not been fulfilled.
Even the few that were provided for them, he says were expired.
The aggrieved anonymous official expressed fears maintaining that the NIA’s insistent push for the registration exercise is highly risky.
“Our work deals with touching things and when the people come to register, we virtually use our fingerprint and eye scanner. They give us their ID cards and sign on our signature pad. This I think, is very risky to our health because we do not know what they are carrying or whether they have contracted the disease or not. So we think we are at risk when they come to our centres to register. No, [We do not have sanitizers to sanitize the equipment when they are used]. Directives from the NIA were that, we will be provided with sanitizers, gloves and face masks but we have still not gotten anything like that. Even the wet tissue they gave us had expired so we do not know what we are doing. We are scared and at risk”, he lamented.
Situation at registration centres
Citi News‘ checks at some of the centres show that basic items as water for regular handwashing were not readily available.
After some of the officers raised concerns over the continuation of the process, the NIA said its officers were expected to adhere to preventive measures such as the washing of hands frequently and social distancing.
The unavailability of the safety logistics compelled field officers in some parts of the Birim Central and South Districts, Afram Plains, New Juaben North and South Municipalities to declare a sit-down strike as they believe their lives were in danger without the safety logistics.
The centres are also attracting significant numbers with some applicants saying they will chase that card as long as the process is ongoing.
The NIA in an earlier press release asked registration officers to ensure “appropriate queue management techniques including numbering, appointment systems to ensure that no long ques emerge at any registration centre.”
Also, no more than 25 field officers are to be at a registration centre at a given time.
New NIA preventive protocol impractical – Africa Centre for Health Policy
The Director of Advocacy and Research at the Africa Centre for Health Policy, Ignatius Terrence Nnubeng, has described the protocols by the National Identification Authority (NIA) put in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the Eastern Region as impractical.
According to Mr. Nnubeng, it is safer to suspend the ongoing mass registration exercise for the Ghana Card adding that, the NIA should not prioritize the exercise over the lives of Ghanaians.
“These are great measures but they are theoretical because you cannot practice them. If you have been to a registration centre you will find so many people sitting together on one bench so how do you expect them to observe these measures. Aside from that, you yourselves have placed it in your statement that you have not been able to procure the things for them and you will still want them to go ahead and do this, how is this possible? In the first place, the scanners they are using need to be disinfected after every single use and so, in this case, I think they should actually suspend it and wait for this whole thing to subside.
