The National Identification Authority (NIA) has made it clear that not everyone who is seeking a replacement for a lost or damaged Ghana Card, correcting faults on an existing one, or asking for a new Ghana Card will be able to resolve their issues by Friday, September 30.
On TV3’s Ghana, Executive Secretary of the Authority Professor Kenneth Agyemang Attafuah said His organization was founded in perpetuity rather than to meet deadlines, as of tonight, Monday, August 1.
The primary document for the most recent re-registration of subscriber identity module (SIM) cards is the national identity cards, also known as Ghana Cards.
The deadline of July 31 was extended by two additional months by Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, Minister of Communications and Digitalization, due to the failure of many people to reregister their SIM cards. After the initial prolongation on Thursday, March 31, it was the second.
In a press conference on Sunday, Mrs. Owusu-Ekuful stated that she had to “reluctantly” extend the deadline once more.
“I have very reluctantly decided to give a final conditional extension after consulting with the industry and in light of the issues listed above.”
Reluctantly, Ursula extends the SIM re-registration deadline.
With this most recent choice, the exercise, which began on Friday, October 1, will have been ongoing for exactly one year, according to her.
“The program will continue through September 30 in order to terminate on the anniversary of its start. We will then have a full year of SIM registration thanks to it.
Pressure is put on the NIA to get applicants captured for their cards because the Ghana Card is the one registration document that is most frequently requested.
However, according to Prof. Attafuah, the Authority was established to give Ghanaians the luxury of time to obtain their cards.
He emphasized that “NIA was not established with a specific timeframe.”
“NIA is an organization created for all time. That basically means that we are to carry out our mandate similarly to a hospital or maternity ward, where people can visit as and when they need to.
“That is the plan it the law specifies, and that is the plan that we are carrying out forever. There is no deadline, and the law’s intention is for anyone to register with the NIA at their convenience and will only apply to those who were not detained during registration.
However, Prof Attafuah expressed optimism that many of the remaining 800,000 Ghanaians will receive their SIM re-registration cards prior to the revised deadline.
