Ghana Card registration in Eastern Region suspended indefinitely

The National Identification Authority (NIA) has suspended the Ghana Card registration exercise in the Eastern Region indefinitely.

The NIA in a statement said the suspension “follows a careful assessment of the registration exercise carried out in the Eastern Region between Wednesday, 4th March 2020 and Friday, 20th March 2020.”

It also attributed this course of action to “the current trend in the spread of COVID-19 in Ghana.”

The registration exercise has previously been suspended on March 21 following an interlocutory injunction application filed at the High Court restraining the Authority from continuing with the registration exercise.

This latest suspension comes despite a victory in court for the NIA on the matter.

The High Court in Accra earlier on Friday dismissed an injunction application seeking to stop the NIA from continuing with its registration in the Eastern Region.

According to the court, the NIA’s decision to go ahead with the registration was not going against the President’s directive suspending all public gatherings to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The NIA added that “it will use the period of suspension to continue with its preparations toward the establishment of its Regional, Municipal and District Offices and arrange for the co-location of its registration services at some of its cognate institutions such as National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) and Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), among other responsibilities.”

The NIA faced criticism for continuing with the registration exercise despite the risk of spreading the coronavirus because of the numbers that troop to registration centres.

When the Authority refused to suspend the exercise, the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), for example, said the continuation of the registration was a breach of international and regional human rights instruments.

CHRAJ in a statement also said the NIA’s actions were a disregard of the existing World Health Organization (WHO) precautionary measures amid the pandemic.

The Ghana Medical Association (GMA) remarked that the continuation of the exercise contravened measures declared by the state to combat the pandemic.

Ghana currently has 136 cases of the virus with three deaths.

Find below a statement from the NIA

NATIONAL IDENTIFICATION AUTHORITY

27th March 2020
To All Media Houses
For immediate release

INDEFINITE SUSPENSION OF MASS REGISTRATION IN THE EASTERN REGION

The National Identification Authority (NIA) announces the indefinite suspension of the mass registration exercise in the Eastern Region until further notice. This decision follows a careful assessment of the registration exercise carried out in the Eastern Region between Wednesday, 4th March 2020 and Friday, 20th March 2020. The decision to suspend the registration follows a careful assessment of the exercise in the region so far. It also takes into account the current trend in the spread of COVID-19 in Ghana since the suspension of the mass registration exercise on Saturday, 21st March 2020, following the service on the NIA of an interlocutory injunction application.
The NIA welcomes the dismissal by the High Court of the interlocutory injunction application and the substantive suit. Nonetheless, NIA will continue to suspend its mass registration operations in the Eastern Region until further notice.

NIA will use the period of suspension to continue with its preparations toward the establishment of its Regional, Municipal and District Offices and arrange for the co-location of its registration services at some of its cognate institutions such as National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) and Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), among other responsibilities.

Meanwhile, NIA will continue to observe developments relating to the management of COVID-19 in Ghana and will determine, at the appropriate time, when and how to resume its mass registration operations.

SGND: ACI. FRANCIS PALMDETI
HEAD, CORPORATE AFFAIRS, NIA