Correspondence from Upper West

Wa Municipal office of the National Identification Authority (NIA), operating from a section of the premises of GRA continued to record high number of people trooping in for registration while the registration was ongoing.

However, the running of the outfit is not without challenges that affect the smooth running of the outfit just like many other public institutions.

In an interview with GhanaWeb, the Wa Municipal Director of NIA, Mr. Khalid Mohammed Suadique, mentioned the lack of an office vehicle to aid in the effective discharge of their duties as one major challenge facing the outfit.

On efforts taken to solve the problem, Mr. Khalid disclosed that the office had reached out to the Member of Parliament for Wa Central, Dr. Hassan Rashid Pelpuo, two months ago to help the office secure a pickup vehicle but was yet to hear a response from him.

He furthered that his outfit has also written to the Wa Municipal Chief Executive, Hon. Issahaku Tahiru Moomin, a week ago, to also inform him of the situation they encounter due to the lack of an office vehicle.

"Again, just few days ago on the 28th of March (2023), I wrote to the Wa MCE too informing him of our lack of office vehicle which is not helping our operations at all. Getting a vehicle will go a long way to help with our work," he added.

Mr. Khalid Mohammed Suadique also raised concerns over their continuous usage of the temporal facility given them at the premises of the Ghana Revenue Authority which he described as inadequate and not conducive for their work.

According to him, as a municipality with the highest number of registrants amongst its peers in the region, it is important the outfit gets its own facility spacious enough for the execution of its mandate.

"Currently, we don't have our own office as we operate from the premises of the GRA (Ghana Revenue Authority). I must say the space we operate from is not enough if we should get a good spacious place as our office, that'll facilitate our work greatly," Mr. Khalid stated.

Meanwhile, registrants of the Ghana Card at the Wa Municipal National Identification Authority (NIA) office in the Upper West Region who are yet to receive their cards can now soon do so as the outfit is about to take delivery of the printed cards, according to the Municipal Director.

He revealed the office is set to take delivery of the items this week barring any unforeseen circumstance.

He disclosed that the office had a backlog of over 2000 unprinted Ghana Cards due to the GH¢100 million debt owed the technical partners of the NIA making it difficult to access the blank cards needed for printing of the Ghana Cards.

According to the Finance Minister, Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta, the government has succeeded in paying the GH ¢100million debt owed the technical partners of the NIA to release the over three million blank cards locked up in bonded warehouses for printing and distribution.

He said 80 million Ghana Cedis had so far been deposited and that the remaining 20 million Ghana Cedis would be paid by close of the day - Tuesday, February 28, 2023 - to lead to the release of the blank cards from its seizure by the technical partners due to the non-payment of the debt.

The Finance Minister gave this assurance when he led the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), Madam Jean Adukwei Mensa, as well as the Executive Secretary of the National Identification Authority (NIA), Prof. Kenneth Agyeman Attafuah, to Parliament to brief the House on the Public Elections (Registration of Voters) Regulations, 2022, and the registration of Ghanaians for the Ghana Card.

The Executive Secretary of the NIA had earlier revealed that even though his outfit was capable of printing the over 500,000 backlog of the NIA cards, that could not be achieved since their technical partners had declined to release the blank cards required to do the printing due to the debt owed them.

On the back of this, the Wa Municipal Director of the NIA, Mr. Khalid Mohammed Suadique, speaking to GhanaWeb April 1, 2023, confirmed that the wait for the printing of the Ghana Cards was over as all the backlog had been printed adding, "ours will be delivered from next work barring any unforeseen circumstance."

Many people who have registered for the Ghana Card are frustrated for not being able to get the card months after the registration.

This will therefore come as a relief to many as the Ghana Card is reputed to become the most important asset for every Ghanaian citizen.