Scores of Ghanaians have been keeping wake at the National Identification Authority (NIA) office at Adum in the Ashanti region to enable them acquire the Ghana card for the re-registration of their SIM cards before the 31st July deadline.
Some applicants have accused some NIA staff of demanding up to GHC400 for the issuance of a card within 24hours.
A visit to the regional office of the NIA revealed long queues amidst confusion and misunderstanding in Kumasi.
Some prospective applicants who spoke to GHone News bemoaned spending nights at the NIA office just to acquire their cards.
They also accused the registration authority of giving preference to certain people to the detriment of others.
Some staff of NIA at Subin Metro Office said the office doesn’t have the required human and electronic resources to meet the daily demand of over 400 people.
Checks at the Regional office also disclosed daily registration of 50 people and release of about 100 cards thereby blaming the situation on the government’s lack of resources to run effective exercise.
Some applicants are demanding an explanation from the NIA because they do not understand why their data is no longer on the NIA information data system.
However, several attempts to get an official response from management at the NIA regional office have failed.
Applicants are therefore calling on the government to extend the SIM card registration deadline.
