National I.D Cards Locked Up

Hundreds of National Identity (ID) cards, produced by the National Identification Authority (NIA), have been locked up in the Authority’s offices, awaiting collection.

Out of the 2.5 million cards produced for some parts of the Greater Accra Region, only 700,000 have been issued out, with the rest uncollected.

“The cards are for Okaikoi, Ablekuma, Osu Klotey, Ashiedu Keteke and Ayawaso, all in the Accra Metropolis”. According to the NIA’s Deputy Director of Public Affairs, Ms. Bertha Dzeble, the cards were sent to the owners in their vicinities, but they failed to collect them.

A visit by the Times to the NIA Headquarters at Okponglo in Accra, revealed a bulk of the cards packed on shelves in its storerooms.

Ms. Dzeble, who conducted the Times, round the storerooms last Thursday, said the NIA was constructing additional shelves and also converting more rooms into storerooms for the uncollected cards.

She described the situation as worrying since the NIA had to spend additional money to construct new shelves and convert other apartments into storerooms for the safekeeping of the cards.

“We have just cleared this corridor which was full of identity cards that have not been collected by their owners”, she said.

She said Ga East, Ga West, Ga South, Dangme West and East, Kpeshie, Tema metropolis, Adenta and Ashaiman municipalities were yet to be issued with their cards, adding that about 3.5 million people had been registered in the Greater Accra alone.

Ms. Dzeble said the NIA was considering creating offices in the various Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies as points for registration and collection of the cards.

She said considering the enthusiasm people exhibited when the exercise commenced coupled with the importance the NIA attached to the exercise, it was surprising that owners of the cards had failed to collect them.

“She said, the NIA made the cards available for 10 days at the registration centres but the applicants failed to collect them in spite of many public announcements.

Ms. Dzeble said a total of 13,041,705 applicants had been registered in the country with the exception of the Upper East, Upper West and the Northern regions where the Authority was yet to commence the exercise.