The National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the savannah region notes with
concern the shambolic manner in which the National Identification Authority(NIA)
is carrying out its registration processes in the savannah region.
The NDC Savannah region states with visible evidence the deliberate attempt by
the National Identification Authority(NIA) in denying indigenes of the region
access to getting themselves registered for whatsoever reason.
After several failed attempts to getting our concerns noticed and issues rectified by
the NIA, we wish to bring to the attention of the public, media and most especially
our traditional rulers the avoidable fallouts which we find deliberate on the side of
government to disenfranchise people in the savannah region the opportunity of
getting themselves registered before the deadline. These are:
1. A registration exercise which was suppose to commence on the 4th of October
and end on the 23rd of October (3weeks period) only commenced 4days after the
announced date thus the 8th/10/2019 wasting four good days already. On record
there are some centers such as chama, Mpaha in the central Gonja district, Kpalbe
in the North East Gonja district etc. till date that have not yet commenced the
process at all.
2. A national exercise of this sort which should have gained a lot of attention and
thereby increasing the community education exercise before commencing only saw
Imams and pastors voluntarily sensitizing their members of its importance and the
need to register. What happened to the huge budget out of the $1.2billion meant for
education/media purposes.
3. At the end of the first two days of registration, all centers had Zero(0)
registration cards issued due to lack of issuance machines all around the region and
constant network failure.
4. Lack of access to server has become a common hindrance making centers
redundant almost the whole day. What amazes the entire region is how such
challenges are still noticed after carrying out same exercise in other regions.
5. More than 90% of printers, laptops, laminators et al brought to the Savannah
region are faulty and cannot be used for their intended purposes making even a
single print since the commencement of the exercise absolutely impossible.
6. Generation of GPS addresses, providing birth certificates/travelling passports in
the various villages have been left to the faith of indigenes leaving them hopeless
since coming by any of such has become a big challenge to them.
7. Selection and deploying of half or non-educated officials who struggle to even
spell names and fill in particulars of indigenes who attempted registering keeps
repeating in virtually all centers. Is it a case of not using qualified personnel just so
to squeeze some money out for personal gains?
We take particular exception to the hypocritical appraisal of work by the National
Identification authority officials in Accra who simply have no idea of what exactly
is happening in the various communities around the savannah region.
As a matter of urgency, we call on the government to take hasty steps in resolving
the deliberate challenges confronting the NIA registration processes or watch
indigenes of the Savannah region boycott the process until issues are resolved and
the authority proves its readiness to work in the interest of Ghanaians.
Malik Basintale
Regional Communication officer
NDC -Savannah Region
0540444414
