Dear Editor,
About two weeks ago, I wrote about the “needless hustle” citizens were going through in order to acquire the Ghana Card. Well, my persistence paid off last Friday, March 18, 2022, after I spent another week “chasing” the card at the registration centre in my district.
The officer at the centre found the card on Monday, March 14, 2022 after I submitted my details but I could not do the biometric verification that day as there were many other residents in a queue.
Friday morning, however, was less busy for me so I managed to spend about an hour in a queue until it was my turn to take my card. Capturing my fingerprints (also known as biometric verification) took less than five minutes after which my card was given to me.
I left the centre again wondering why we must spend several hours in a queue when, indeed, the verification and issuance of the card did not take much time to complete.
While in the queue, I heard an officer express worry over the thousands of cards that had not been picked up by the owners. I asked myself: “how would they pick them up when they have to spend many hours or even a whole day in a queue?”
I believe the National Identification Authority can do better and ensure there is no undue delay when registrants show up at various centres to pick their Ghana cards. Their details had already been captured at the initial stages off the registration, therefore, issuance of the printed cards need not become another hurdle.
Prince Opoku-Gyamerah,
Teshie–First Junction.