The printing of National Identification Cards (Ghanacard) is scheduled to begin in 2010, the National Identification Authority (NIA) has said. The authority is just awaiting the conclusion of a contract awarded for the installation of a local area network (LAN) and a high value uninterrupted power system (UPS) for the constant supply of power to the card printer to safeguard the printing process. In preparation for the start of the printing of the identity cards, the recruitment of people for the production and distribution of the cards has also begun. The Executive Secretary of the NIA, Dr William Ahadzie, disclosed this to the Daily Graphic at a press conference in Accra. With 5,746,242 applicants registered in four regions, out of an estimated population of 7,260,332, the NIA has enough records to start the printing of the cards. The number registered so far represents an average coverage of 79 per cent of applicants in the Central, Western, Eastern and Volta regions. The press conference was used to give an overview of the mass registration exercise currently ongoing in the Greater Accra Region, the work of the NIA to date, and the challenges and prospects of a national identification system (NIS). On the mass registration exercise in the Greater Accra Region, Dr Ahadzie appealed to Ghanaians to bear with the registration clerks because accurate information collection was the goal, hence, the time taken by the clerks to crosscheck and get details of applicants’ right. He explained that in situations where applicants could not accurately tell their dates of birth or ages, for instance, registration clerks, together with the applicant, tried to get a close estimation of a person’s age or other personal data and said that accounted for the long queues in many places. To overcome that challenge, he said, more mobile registration workstations (MRWs) and staff were deployed to those areas. He assured those who could not register after the mass registration exercise in their respective areas that some MRWs and staff would be maintained for a month to mop up. Source: Daily Graphic/Ghana