The National Identification Authority (NIA) has announced that mass registration exercises for the Ghana Card will begin from April 29 to May 26, 2019 in the Greater Accra Region.
The registration will take place daily at NIA centres from 7am to 5pm excluding weekends and public holidays. Areas marked for registration include Weija, Gbawe, Ga West, Ga Central, Ga South, and Ablekuma.
Alternatively, citizens can pre-fill the forms via an online portal hosted by the NIA website and print it before coming to the centre for interview and verification of identity.
According to NIA boss, Kenneth Attafuah, there will be regional and district offices across the country for continuous registration to take place when the mass registration phase is over.
He added that the registration will be extended to all regions from July 15, 2019 to March 31, 2020.
Mr. Attafuah noted that primary requirements for attaining the Ghana Card include a valid passport or a genuine birth certificate whereas secondary requirements includes a driver’s licence, Voter ID, SSNIT Card, Health Insurance, or a Tax Identification Number (TIN).
“It is mandatory to present a Digital Address which can be attained by downloading the Ghana Post GPS on to your phone and generate the address at the gate of your residence,” said the NIA boss.
He added that there will be Commissioners for Oaths at the Registration Centres to take those without any of the above documents through a vouching process. For vouching, citizens need one family member who has already registered or 2 people who have already registered. They must be present with their cards to support you.
He also warned that any change in name or date of birth should be supported by a gazette. “If you are using your birth certificate or passport, it’s the same name that will be used for your Ghana card unless you have a gazette to prove otherwise.”
Currently, about 548,000 citizens have been registered onto the National Identification System (NIS). The mass registration plan has been prepared to complete the registration and issuance of smart, dual-interface Ghana Cards to 85% of Ghanaians aged 15 years and above between April 29, 2019 to March 31, 2020. Thereafter, Ghanaians under 15 years will be registered and issued with 2-D bar-code Ghana Cards.
The registration exercise will also be extended to cover Ghanaians in the diaspora following the completion of the domestic registration. This will be done in collaboration with the Ghanaian Missions abroad and the Office of Diaspora Relations at the Presidency.
Mr. Attafuah was very emphatic that the registration process is for Ghanaians only, and therefore any foreigner who attempts to register for the Ghana Card violates the laws of Ghana and will, upon arrest, be dealt with in accordance with the law.
“A separate arrangement exists for eligible foreigners to register under the Foreigners Identity Management System (FIMS) Project, and to be issued with the Non-Citizen Identity Card”, he added.
The Ghana Card complies with the standards and requirements for the ECOWAS ID card, and therefore has been subsequently integrated into one card.
Dates for Nationwide registration
Registration for Volta and Oti Regions will take place from the 15th of July to the 1st of August 2019, whereas that of Northern and Savannah and the North-East Region will take place from August 13, 2019 to September 2, 2019.
Upper East and Upper West Regions’ will take place from September 12, 2019 to September 29, 2019.
Bono Region including Bono East and Ahafo Regions’ will take place from October 10, 2019 to October 30, 2019.
Western Region and Western North Region’s will take place from November 11, 2019 to December 02, 2019.
The Ashanti Region’s will take place from December 10, 2019 to January 01, 2020 whereas Eastern and Central Regions’ will take place from February 12, 2020 to March 04, 2019 and March 13, 2019 to March 31, 2019 respectively.
Source: thebftonline.com
