Hundreds of applicants have crowded the Bono Regional Office of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) in Sunyani to demand their National Identification Cards.
The National Identification Authority (NIA) is collaborating with the GRA for the issuance of the National Identification (ID) Cards.
During a visit to the premises of the GRA on Tuesday, the anxious applicants were sighted in long queues waiting patiently to receive their cards.
Some of the applicants, mostly young men and women who said they travelled distances, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) they slept at the GRA premises, while others said they arrived between 0100 hours and 0500 hours to enable them to receive their cards on time.
A few of them however told the GNA they were new applicants who had arrived at the premises for the processing and issuance of their cards.
But, speaking in an interview with the GNA, Emmanuel Adu Agyemang, the Team Head of the NIA, urged the general public to remain calm, as the Authority was ensuring all applicants and new ones would receive their cards.
He allayed the fears of all applicants whose cards were stocked at the NIA, saying everybody including new applicants would receive their cards by December this year.
Mr. Agyemang said he was unhappy about how applicants were mad-rushing to acquire the identification cards, a situation which was stressing up the only five team members.
“We started operations around April and unfortunately many applicants were not coming for their cards until a deadline was placed on the exercise. Our rush hour attitude and mentality are not the best and we must change,” he said.
That notwithstanding, Mr. Agyemang indicated the team was working strenuously to ensure all applicants were served, saying “though we are only five team members, we are able to attend to more than 100 applicants every day”.
“We intend to open our regional offices and when that is done the pressure on us will calm down. Until that is determined, ensure every applicant is served and satisfied,” he assured.