NIA to begin mass registration for Ghana Card in March

After multiple postponements, the mass registration and issuance of the national identity card, also known as the Ghana Card, will commence in March this year.  The Executive Secretary of the National Identification Authority, Professor Kenneth Agyeman Attafuah, says the exercise will cover the entire country by January, 2020. “So far, over 300,000 Ghanaians have been issued their cards in the institutional registration and piloting exercise. By March this year, we should begin the mass registration across the country and my estimation is that latest by January 2020, we would’ve covered everybody,” he noted. Prof Attafuah hinted this to 3news.com at a swearing-in ceremony of Commissioners for Oath in Kumasi. The National Identification Authority has trained over 1,600 Commissioners of Oath to be deployed for the registration of the card and also boost the judicial service. The Commissioners will oversee the process of affirmations by relatives of persons who do not have birth certificates or passports, the two mandatory documents needed for the registration of the Ghana Card. Addressing the Commissioners at the swearing-in ceremony, Ashanti Region President of Ghana Bar Association, Francis Koffie, advised them to work with integrity and absolute conduct. Representative of the State Attorney Vida Achiaa Yeboah also implored the Commissioners to limit themselves to their mandate of affirming and verifying documents. Supervising High Court Judge His Lordship Justice Kossi Efo Kaglo cautioned them not to engage in acts that would flout their oaths or the laws of the country. “Your role as Commissioners of Oath is key in the judicial service. You should discharge your duties in a professional manner and ensure that you make your clients swear based on their religious belief to authenticate the information they have provided before appending your signature on their documents.’ The Commissioners took the oath of secrecy and the official oath before being presented with certificates. By Ibrahim Abubakar|3news.com|Ghana]]>