Members of Parliament have lamented bitterly over the extortion of funds by officers of National Identification Authority (NIA) from the public before registration is done. According to them, officers of NIA demand GH¢ I from the public as payment for overtime before they carry out the registration exercise. Apart from the alleged extortion, the officers reportedly demand that the public contribute to buy canopies for their comfort. MP for Kwadaso, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, dropped the hint on the Floor of Parliament yesterday when he was contributing to a statement made by MP for Manhyia, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, on the registration exercise in the Ashanti Regional capital, Kumasi. Describing the exercise in Kumasi as a failure, Dr. Afriyie Akoto said officers of NIA claim they work overtime and therefore should be paid for the extra time, hence they demand money from the public before they register them, adding that those who refused to yield to their demand were sacked. In response, MP for Avenor Ave, Eddward Adjaho who is also the first Deputy Speaker of Parliament, called on the Ghana Police Service to investigate the matter, advising the public to report issues of such nature to the police. Earlier, giving indication that he monitored the exercise in his constituency, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh said for first two days in the Buokrom Estate electoral area, there were no operators to take either biometric data or pictures and that people registered others outside in the Afia Kobi electoral area. He continued that persons without any form of identification documents were turned away instead of being given the necessary form to fill and be registered. Besides, he said, there were reports of acute shortage of registration forms in the Odumase and Manhyia electoral areas and a palpable lack of urgency and cooperation on the part of the operators at most of the centers. He admitted that considering that the exercise encompasses registering all persons from 6years and above, there were bound to be problems. However, the problems associated with the exercise were so much that there had been calls for them to be urgently addressed to ensure a smooth, efficient and effective exercise .. The problem associated with the exercise, Dr Opoku Prempeh noted, had prevented a lot of people who are willing to register to do so, calling for an extension of the exercise to give chance to those who have not been registered to do. He cautioned that "this important national exercise must be done with the aim of registering all and this must not be sacrificed on the altar of anybody's convenience or ineptitude". MP for Tamale South, Haruna Iddrisu, assured the House of additional plans to establish a temporal registration exercise for mop-ups throughout the country to see to it that all persons are registered. He said it was government's intention to complete the exercise in March 2009, but' due to lack of funds, the exercise had to be extended, hinting that government was securing funds to procure materials to make the exercise a success. MP for Bantama, Cecilia Abena Dapaah, complained that some young girls helping in the registration exercise did not have places of abode and had also not been paid their allowances. She said if the numerous problems and pertinent mistakes are not addressed and corrected, the extension of the exercise would cause financial loss to the state. Alhaji Muntaka Mohammed Mubarak, MP for Asawase, called on NIA to take urgent action about the numerous challenges in order not to discourage people from registering. Source: Daily Guide