NIA records 91,000 double registrations

The head of Public Affairs at the National Identification System (NIA), Ms. Bertha Dzeble, has revealed that the authority has recorded 91,000 double registrations since it started mass registration in 2008.

She said this was after the NIA had registered over 13 million people in seven out of the ten regions of Ghana by March 2012.

At a media briefing in Bolgatanga on Monday, Ms. Dzeble explained that during bio-data taking of registrants, the machines cannot immediately detect double registration, but when the data is being migrated onto the main system, such double registrations are detected.

According to her, the names and particulars of the culprits had been given to the Police to enable them investigate and punish them appropriately. She said the penalty for double registration attracts 2,500 penalty units and each penalty unit costs GHc12.00. It could also attract a jail term.

Ms. Dzeble explained that their preliminary investigations revealed that those who involved themselves in double registration did so with varied reasons. Some, she said, double-registered because they claim their initial photos were either not clear or nice, and so they double-registered.

Others also did so because of change of locations. It was also revealed that about 1000 persons pretended they were Ghanaians when indeed they were not.

Touching on some challenges confronting the authority, including no clear demarcations, houses built across 'imaginary' border lines, dealing with satisfactory nationality status challenges and some Ghanaians aiding and abetting false information.

Ms. Dzeble announced that all is set for the exercise to begin in the Upper East Region after registration officers had been recruited and trained to execute the exercise. She said there are enough registration forms, registration machines and adequate personnel to execute the exercise.

The region has been put into two zones - Zone One comprises operational zones such as Bolgatanga Municipality, Bongo, Kassena-Nankana, Builsa North and Builsa South Districts. Zone Two covers Bawku Municipality, Bawku West, Garu-Tempane and Talensi-Nabdam Districts.