Chief Executive Officer of the National Identification Authority (NIA), Prof Ken Agyeman Attafuah says they are on course to ensure that legitimate Ghanaians are issued a national identity card by the end of the ongoing mop-up exercise.

"As of now, we still have some days left to conduct the exercise. We are to end on September 11, so I am confident that by the time we end the exercise, people in Bono, Bono East, Ahafo, and Greater Accra where the mop-up exercise is currently ongoing will get their card.

“Getting this Ghana card will see to it that we are able to ensure social, economic and political inclusion in this country," he said.

The mop-up exercise, which began in August is targeting persons aged 15 years and above who were unable to participate in the mass Ghana Card registration which was commenced by the NIA in 2019.

As of January 2020, the Authority had registered only 7.2 million people out of the total 16.7 million it had targeted.

The current mop-up exercise follows similar ones conducted in the Ashanti, Volta, and the Oti Regions from August 2 to August 16, 2020.

The Authority also  revised the dates for the Bono, Bono East, and Ahafo regions and announced the new August 27, 2020, to September 11, 2020 deadline.

Speaking to JoyNews during a monitoring tour of the exercise in the Bono Region, the NIA boss said, unlike the previous exercise which was hampered by some technical and logistic issues, the current mop-up exercise has been free of such hurdles.

He, however, expressed worry over the attitude of some Ghanaians with regards to the various Covid-19 safety protocols put in place.

“From my tour, I have seen that the registration centres are being highly patronized. I have also noticed that people are observing the Covid-19 protocols with the exception of one place I went to around Kintampo where nine people did not have on face masks.

"But they understood and left the place immediately we spoke to them.

"But what got me worried was a centre I went to on my way from Bono to Bono East Region.

"When we got there the place was crowded but after we spoke to them for some 15minutes and explained the deadlines to them, most of them left.

"So now they are to report according to the time given to them."