Dozens of Ghana Card applicants were left stranded and dejected at the Accra Sports Stadium on Monday, February 21, 2022, on the first day of operation new registration centers opened by the National Identification Authority.
The NIA recently announced the opening of five new registration centers in addition to the 276 District Registration offices and its premium registration center located at the headquarters in Accra.
The centers at the Accra Sports Stadium, El-wak Sports Stadium (Premium Centre), Accra, Kumasi Sports Stadium, Ghana National Fire Service (Regional Office), Cape Coast and the Tamale Sports Stadium commenced operations on Monday.
GhanaWeb on Monday visited both centers in Accra to monitor the progress of the exercise which is expected to last until March 31, 2022.
At the El Wak Sports Stadium registration center which is a premium center, the exercise was running smoothly without any significant hitches except a few applicants who were unaware of the fact that a payment of GHC250 is required for the premium service turning up in expectation of being registered for free.
At the Accra Sports Stadium which is for general applications and is free, dozens of applicants who turned up as early as 4:00 am on the first day of the operation of the center left disappointed.
According to some of the applicants, they arrived at the main entrance of the Accra Sports Stadium at dawn, in anticipation of successfully going through the registration and being issued their Ghana Cards.
However, disclosing their disappointment during an interview with GhanaWeb, some of the applicants say they were kept at the main entrance from dawn to evening when the center closed without being granted access to the media room of the Accra Sports Stadium where the exercise was taking place.
For others who were able to access the center and were taken through the registration, they bemoaned the slow pace of the exercise stating that they were asked to return on Tuesday for their cards after they successfully registered.
Meanwhile the Team Lead at the Accra Sports Stadium Registration Center, Richard Kofi Badu, explained that a delay in having their machines setup for the exercise hampered the operation of the center on the first day.
According to him, the delay was occasioned by the fixture between Accra Hearts of Oak and Kumasi Asante Kotoko on Sunday which affected their access to the center to setup ahead of time.
He expressed hope that pressure will ease at the center as workflow will hit full throttle on Tuesday.
For the many disappointed applicants who turned up at the Accra Sports Stadium, they were hopeful that officials will ensure the registration process picks up pace in the coming days to take care of the many applicants expected to turn up for the exercise.
Watch the GhanaWeb report below:
