The National Identification project officially took off in Accra yesterday, with the deployment of about 1,600 officers from the National Identification Authority (NIA) to the Central Region. One thousand, five hundred and sixty (1,560) Mobile Registration Workstation (MRW) operators, made up mostly of the youth, and 40 Information Technology technicians departed Accra for the Central Region, to begin the national mass registration exercise, which begins on Tuesday, July1.

The authority yesterday organised a prayer session at the Independence Square in Accra to dedicate the team into God’s hands. The NIA was established in 2003 under the Office of the President, to conduct the national mass registration exercise to collate biometric data to be used for the national identification system. It is also entrusted with the responsibility to institutionalise the management of a national database and to ensure the accuracy, integrity and security of such data for the issuance and promotion of the use of national identity cards in the country.

Addressing the media after the service, the Executive Secretary of the authority, Prof. Ernest Dumor, said the team will be in the Central Region for three weeks, by which time the whole region would have been covered. However, he said if the team worked harder, it could complete the exercise in the region earlier. and proceed to the Western Region. He said the whole national exercise is expected to last nine months. Prof. Dumor explained that the team had received enough training to enable members to do a diligent and efficient work.

Asked if he considers the situation in the North, particularly in the Upper East Region, safe enough to deploy his men there, Prof. Dumor said the three northern regions will be covered in the early part of next year, and it is hoped that time, things would have normalised. According to him, the registration exercise is supposed to unite the country, "make everybody feel part of the country". The Accra Metropolitan Archbishop of the Catholic Church, Most Rev. Gabriel Charles Palmer-Buckle, who offered special prayers for the officers, entreated the team to be worthy ambassadors and urged them to carry out their duty with pride.

"Depending on your output, you have a lot to benefit from this exercise than you will give out," he said, adding that it is an opportunity for the team to learn about traditions other than theirs and to be appreciative of the rich Ghanaian heritage. “Open yourself to learn about the culture of the people and do not go there expecting to be served," he advised. He said God has a new agenda for Ghana and asked them to consider themselves as privileged to be chosen as vessels through which this new agenda will be accomplished.

The Most Rev. Palmer-Buckle underscored the importance of the exercise for national development and the need for the operators to be committed to it and ensure that "everybody is registered". For the exercise to be successful, "everybody matters", he stressed and urged the team to help the people to know that "everybody is indispensable to the new developmental agenda for Ghana. "Don’t succumb to history, rather be an architect to the new agenda for Ghana," he urged the team.