Some Ghanaians demanding money from NIA officials before collecting Ghana Card – Prof Attafuah claims

The Executive Secretary of the National Identification Authority (NIA), Prof. Kenneth Agyeman Attafuah, has suggested that his outfit cannot be solely blamed for the failure of Ghanaians to get access to their Ghana Cards even though they have registered.

According to him, some Ghanaians have failed to take advantage of the numerous opportunities the NIA made available to them at

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Speaking at a press conference in Accra on September 15, the NIA boss alleged that some Ghanaians are even making demands before they will even come for their own Ghana Cards.

“There were people during the mass registration who were sitting (or) walking around registration centers. The cards were there but they are not picking them up. There were people who were asking that we pay them before they go and take their own Ghana Card.

“I was in Koforidua about 3 months ago on field monitoring and I called somebody whose card was there whose card was ready to come for it. The person told me that it was not time for the collection of cards and that he will come for it when the time comes.

“I my own town Oda, somebody actually told me that I should give her money before she will go and collect her own card,” he said.

He added that the NIA will come up with measures to ensure that Ghanaians whose cards are available can easily get access to them.

Prof Attafuah also disclosed that his outfit cannot issue Ghana Cards to all persons who need them to register their SIM cards before the stated deadline.

This means that not all the nearly 2 million Ghanaians phone users who do have the Ghana Card yet will be able to register their SIM cards before September 30, 2022 deadline.

According to Prof. Attafuah, the NIA currently does not have the capacity to print Ghana Card for the Ghanaians who need them to register their SIM Cards, citinesroom.com reports.

“There is no way that NIA can register those people. It is technically physically impossible. We had said way back in March that it was impossible. I have said it is like expecting a maiden to make a baby every three months.

“That is not how the physical and logistical system has been designed to respond. We cannot do that,” he said.

The NIA boss went on to say that National Communications Authority (NCA) was fully aware of the limitation of his outfit.

IB/SARA