Coronavirus: NIA suspends Ghana card registration despite court ruling

The National Identification Authority (NIA) has announced the indefinite suspension of the Ghana card registration exercise in the Eastern Region until further notice despite a High Court ruling which said it can go ahead with the registration.

On Friday, 27 March 2020, an Accra High Court ruled that the NIA can go ahead with the Ghana card registration despite President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo's ban on public gathering to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

In his judgment, Justice Anthony Oppong said the applicants in the case have not shown any justifiable reason why the NIA should be restrained from its Ghana card registration exercise in the Eastern Region.

“The application for interlocutory injunction ought to fail and same is dismissed”, Justice Oppong ruled.

But the NIA in a statement said it is suspending the registration exercise because of “a careful assessment of the registration exercise carried out in the Eastern Region between Wednesday, 4th March and Friday, 20th March 2020. The decision to suspend the registration follows a careful assessment of the exercise in the region so far.”

The NIA also said it took into account “the current trend in the spread of COVID-19 in the country since the suspension of the mass registration exercise on Saturday, 21st March 2020, following the service on the NIA of an interlocutory injunction application.”

The NIA noted that it welcomes the dismissal by the High Court of the interlocutory injunction application and the substantive suit but, nonetheless, the Authority will continue to suspend its mass registration operations until further notice.

NIA said it will use the period of suspension to continue with its preparations toward the establishment of its Regional, Municipal and District Offices and arrange for the co-location of its registration services at some of its cognate institutions such as National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) and Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), among other responsibilities.

The NIA further stated that it will continue to observe developments relating to the management of COVID-19 in the country and will determine, at the appropriate time, when and how to resume its mass registration operations.