A former deputy information minister, James Agyenim-Boateng has questioned the continuous registration of persons for the National identification card in the Eastern Region.

According to him, it is wrong for the exercise to continue after the president’s directive for all public gatherings to be suspended as the country battles the coronavirus pandemic.

In a tweet Monday morning, the former presidential staffer expressed his disappointment in the National Identification Authority for being the first to publicly disregard the president’s order.

“Isn’t it incongruous that the President is urging the public to avoid large gatherings and yet the NIA’s activities are doing the exact opposite?” he tweeted.

Hundreds of people are reported to have queued at various centres in the Eastern region Monday morning to register for the Ghana Card.

Despite the president’s directive for all public gatherings to be suspended, officials of NIA appeared at the various registration centres, not to disperse the gathering, but rather with their tools, ready to work.

A report by 3News stated that the officials had put on nose masks and provided hand sanitizers on their tables but were not wearing hand gloves.

The officials said they were waiting for official communication from the NIA headquarters in Accra before they could suspend the exercise.

The President on Sunday evening announced that “I have decided, in the interest of public safety and protection of our population, to review the public gathering advisories earlier announced.”