A planned registration and instant issuance of a National Identification Card known as Ghana Card to Members and staff of Parliament has been put on hold.
The exercise was expected to have been carried out, Monday, June 11, 2018, by the National Identification Authority (NIA), the body mandated for the issuance of the national ID card.
It is the second time the NIA has put on hold a planned registration and instant issuance of the Ghana Card to Members and staff of Parliament.
About three weeks ago, the planned roll out of the registration and instant issuance of the Ghana Card to MPs, staff of Parliament and other workers of key government institutions was called off following a technical hitch.
It is not clear what might have informed authorities of the National Identification Authority (NIA) to cancel Monday’s exercise which was expected to have taken place at the precincts of Parliament.
On Friday, June 8, 2018, officials of the NIA were seen doing a mop up exercise of the registration and instant issuance of the Ghana Card in Parliament.
But the Minority Caucus led by Hon. Haruna Iddrisu, in a statement said they will not be part of the registration exercise until issues surrounding the project are addressed.
For instance, he said issues bordering on the cost, scope and legality of the project as well as registration requirements ought to be addressed before they will take part in the nationwide exercise.
“With regards to the cost of the project, the leadership of the NIA, has been less than candid with the people of Ghana. Whereas documents available to us show that the total project cost is US$1.4 billion which can be broken down into US$1,221,476,123 actual cost and tax exemption of US$176 million, the Chief Executive Officer of NIA, Prof. Ken Attafuah, is on record as saying it will cost US$293million”, the Minority’s statement in part read.
Officials of the NIA, as advertised in the Business Statement of Parliament, are expected to address the lawmakers over issues relating to the roll out of the exercise this week.
Such engagement has been postponed twice, with the Minority MPs expressing their displeasure over the turn of events.