But for isolated hitches, the registration of persons for the Ghana Card in some parts of Accra West is progressing smoothly, visits by The Finder to some selected centres have revealed.
Reporters paid visits to some centres within Accra East which includes; Accra Girls, Ayawaso North Municipal Assembly, Officers Mess, 37, Jubilee International Churches and Ministries, Accra High School and Ghana Institute of Journalism all confirmed how the exercise is progressing.
2,500 registered at Ayawaso North District
Supervisor for the Ayawaso North District, Sheriff Alhassan, in an interview with The Finder said the exercise which started three weeks ago has registered about 2,500 residents within the District.
He said the total expected number to register is not known and that, the exercise is covering people from the ages of 15 and above.
“The total population cannot be estimated so the total number can only be known from the statistical service,” he asserted.
Mr. Alhassan explained that because the registration starts with persons above the ages of 15 and above, it makesknowing the total populace a difficult one.
“We are starting from 15 years and above so we do not know the specific number of people we have to capture,” he revealed.
Challenges
The District supervisor again said there had not beenany major challenges except for the initial power challenges which has been resolved following the supply of power generators.
Mr. Alhassan again said that students are given preferential treatment to enable them catch up with class activities.
Registration under oath
The supervisor said “due to the education exercise we undertake every morning to people who have come to do their registration,most residents have come to understand what it takes to register and without the requirements, they know what also to do.”
Giving figures to buttress his point said “62 vouched on Saturday, 105 applied and 88 were enrolled out of the 105 applicants.”
Cards
He was not able to provide the number of people who have registered at his district issued so far,he said there are about 515 outstanding cards to be issued out to people who have completed their registrations, even though , there were about 200 cards ready to be collected by bearers at the time of filing this report.
Ayawaso North Municipal Assembly (ANWA)
A visit to the Ayawaso North Municipal Assembly (ANWA) center also showed how smooth the exercise was going.
Though the officer in charge refused to open up to the media, an observation by The Finder at the centre showed cooperation on the part of the people seated to get registered.
Jubilee International Churches and Ministries, pig farm
Jubilee International churches and Ministries was another center that was visited. The officer in charge of the center also refused to open up to The Finder.
The atmosphere also gave good impression of how smooth the exercise has been.
A quick head count of people outside the church’s premises waiting to be registered was 100.
Officers Mess, 37
Another visit to the 37 center shows that the exercise was running smoothly and observations by The Finder again showed that some people did not understand certain requirements needed for the registration such as the GPS address.
Accra High School
The supervising officer at the Accra High School said that about 1000 people have been registered so far amidst few challenges to do with documentation.
The NIA official at the centre, who only gave his name as Emma, admitted that he can’t give any detailed information because he has not been ordered to do so.
Ibrahim Rahman, who had come to register, averred that this was his first attempt and that everything was moving on smoothly.
“I don’t have all the documents so my sister who has the card will guarantee for me. I think the card is very essential because it will get to a time that when u crossing the border the card will be your only prove as a Ghanaian,” he asserted.
Another registrant, Yaa Serwaa, mentioned that she came at exactly 9am and she was still waiting patiently for her turn.
Ghana Institute of Journalism
The NIA official in charge of the centre at GIJ declined to speak to the media stating that he has not been authorised to talk to any media house, explaining that the only person mandated to speak on any issues concerning the registration process is the Head of Corporate Affairs of NIA.
The Finder observed that the environment was serene and that the process was moving on smoothly even though it was at a slow pace.
No chaotic scene despite the slowness of the exercise which was attributed to network challenges.
The queue was also not long as compared to other centres.
Though NIA in their press conference mentioned that the issuance of the card was instant, at the time of departure, this paper noticed that people who have registered weeks ago have still not received their cards.
Some registrants who spoke to The Finder said that though the processeswas slow and were hopeful they go through them successfully.
Source: The Finder
