The National Identification Authority (NIA) has given the assurance that all outstanding Ghana cards will be printed within the next six months.
According to Executive Secretary of the National Identification Authority (NIA) his outfit is capable of printing all outstanding Ghana Cards.
According to Prof Kenneth Agyemang Attafuah, the NIA has the capacity to print the about 2.5million cards yet to be printed.
“This can be done in six months,” Prof Attafuah assured.
He said 50,000 Ghana Cards can be printed on a daily basis with 500 printers.
This, he explained, is because the Authority has “the capacity and has over 1,000 functional printers, we have people who are trained.”
“That means that in 11 days we can do the 541,000 cards. There are absolutely no reasons for anyone to doubt that ..and as soon as we have the cards, in two days we can have the cards in every nook and cranny of this country where there is a regional or district office,” he assured.
His comments follow complaints over outstanding Ghana Cards.
Speaking in an interview on JoyNews’ Newfile on Saturday, Prof Agyemang Attafuah said as of February 19th, the NIA has over 17 million people registered for the Ghana Card.
However, there are 541,521 cards that have not been printed.
The printing challenge, he said is due to financial difficulties.
“Since about August of last year, we have experienced financial constraints in the system and it created a situation where even though we have 3.5 million stock of cards in a bonded warehouse, we are unable to assess the cards because of financial difficulty….,” he explained.
Prof Attafuah added that the private partner in the arrangement is owed a considerable amount of money hence the refusal to release the Ghana Cards to the NIA.
The NIA boss, however, stated that government on Friday cleared some of the debt, therefore NIA is hopeful that “going into next week, cards will be released.
“Now when cards are released, 541,521 cards can be printed in less than two weeks,” he assured.
Meanhwhile, the Minority says it will resist any attempts by the Electoral Commission to use the Ghana Card as the only source document for compiling the 2024 voters register.
Speaking on Newsfile on Saturday, former Deputy Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Dominic Ayine stressed the Minority’s position, adding that even though the National Democratic Congress (NDC) is not against the Ghana Card, it should not be used as the sole prerequisite for the 2024 voters register.