The Deputy Finance Minister, Seth Tekper, has accused the National Identification Authority (NIA) of not co-operating with his ministry in order to ensure the exercise is well efficient. The Executive Secretary of the NIA, Dr William Ahadzie on Tuesday told the Joy Super Morning Show that lack of funds was hampering progress of the National Identification exercise. He added that the distribution of national ID cards, which was supposed to be done in January 2011 had to be postponed due to the inability to pay their field workers. But speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show, Mr Tekper reiterated government’s support to ensure the exercise is completed. He however revealed that the NIA was instructed to liaise with institutions such as the National Health Insurance Authority, Ghana Passport Office, SSNIT, (DVLA) and the Ghana Revenue Authority in order to streamline the efficiency of the national identification numbering system. According to him, this would have prevented duplication of certain data among the various above mentioned institutions and would have saved government a lot of money. Mr Tekper also said that the Finance Ministry instructed the NIA to bring proposals bordering on the technical and legislative issues of the Authority to guide the Ministry in mooting an amendment bill which would have clearly defined the role of the NIA. “These are technical issues and technical issues involve the duplication of equipment and expenditures. It involves looking at the legislation. “In fact it is one of the issues we identified and they were to bring proposals for us to go to Parliament and if necessary amend the legislation to redefine the role of the National Identification Authority,” he stated. However, Mr Tekper said the Authority had failed in fulfilling these requirements. Dr Ahadzie, who was also on the programme, admitted that his outfit had been issued with that directive but emphasized that the state institutions linked with the national identification numbering system were not co-operating with his outfit. He however stressed the importance of ensuring that the National Identification registration exercise is completed in order to avert financial penalties being imposed. “It’s in our own interest to at least complete that particular contract [registration exercise]. Otherwise there are [financial] penalties that will be applied which will mean a huge loss to the state,” he warned. Story by Fidel Amoah/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana