Accra, Jan. 20, GNA - The National Identification Authority (NIA) has said the mass registration exercise was free and opportunity would be given to those who could not register later. It also dispelled rumours that persons who did not register during the mass registration exercise would not be allowed to vote during Election 2012.

Dr William Ahadzie, Executive Secretary of NIA who spoke at a press conference in Accra on Tuesday, said the NIA was a permanent institution and would decentralize its operations this year by opening regional and district offices to register persons who were unable to register during the mass registration exercise.

"In view of this, there is no need for people to stand in long queues for hours to get registered because everybody will eventually be covered under the system," Dr Ahadzie said.

He said contrary to reports the exercise, which began in November last year, had recorded tremendous success covering over 79 per cent of the population of areas already registered. Dr Ahadzie said the NIA, on regular basis, monitored and assessed the process and the conduct of registration officers at all its 440 centres to rectify problems encountered.

He said contrary to the past where equipment failure was rampant, the cases of failure now were minimal adding that more equipment and personnel were at the centres, which reduced waiting time of applicants.

Dr Ahadzie announced that from the second quarter of this year, the NIA would move to the country's foreign missions to begin registering Ghanaians living abroad.

He announced that from next month, the NIA would begin the production of registration cards for those who had already registered. Dr Ahadzie said the last phase of the mass registration exercise in the Greater Accra Region would begin from February 1 to 11, followed by the Ashanti Region, March to April this year. He appealed to parents whose children had turned six years to register them and urged the public to desist from attacking or assaulting registration officers to ensure speedy and smooth operation of the exercise.

The national identification registration is to enable government collate a national data on the country's population for effective national development planning.