The National Identification Authority (NIA) says it will soon establish permanent regional, municipal, and district offices to allow persons who could not register during the mop-up exercise to do so.

“After this mop-up registration exercise is over, we will establish our permanent regional, municipal, and district offices in the next couple of months, where every single child under 15 years will be registered.

The Executive Secretary of the NIA, Professor Kenneth Attafuah who was speaking during an interview with Accra-based Joy FM, said that “officials at the offices will also move into the communities to register people while maintaining a presence at the offices so people can walk in and register.

“We are registering everyone, from zero to infinity. We will be working with the birth and death registry so that when the children turn 18 we would know automatically. This will also allow 'football age' to be a thing of the past", he said.

Prof. Attafuah described the Ghana Card as a must-have card, noting that “One would be excluding himself socially, economically and politically without the card."

He noted that the NIA was creating a system where one’s existence on the NIA data system becomes the point in ascertaining the legitimacy of one's identity.

Mop-up exercise

He indicated that the Ashanti and Volta regional mop up exercises had been completed and that the teams were currently in four regions.

Greater Accra Region - 881 registration centres
Bono East - 178 registration centres
Bono - 183 registration centres
Ahafo- 96 registration centres

He said that the exercises which were already underway in Accra will end on September 8.

In Bono, Bono East, and Ahafo, he said the registration will begin Thursday, August 27, 2020, and end on September 11.

He noted that schools or churches that were initially used as centres for the registration will not be used this time around as schools and churches were back in session.

He, however, noted the registration centres would still be in the same vicinity.

Importance of Ghana Card

Prof. Attafuah advised Ghanaians to register for the card, noting that there were 17 things that one cannot do without a Ghana Card.

“A person cannot apply for or be issued a passport, drivers’ license, open a bank account, purchase insurance policy, purchase, transfer and register a land, make a transaction that pertains to pension, register for the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) and engage in activity that has some social security implications”.

He added that one cannot also “engage in consumer credit transactions, register for voter ID card, make payment of taxes, register for sim card, or access any government facilities, services and opportunities that require approvals, permissions or benefits, as the NIA governing board may determine”.

“The Ghana Card also serves as a passport valid for travel within the West Africa sub-region. With the Ghana Card you don’t need to hold a paper passport for travel within the region,” he said.