Residents in the Bolgatanga Municipality of the Upper East Region in their quest to get registered for the Ghana Card,have disregarded the social distancing protocol to the extent of even fighting among themselves over ‘who came first’ at the centers.
The incident is as a result of suspicion of lack of transparency from NIA officials at some centers in the region.
The residents who appeared pensive and aggressive in their queues to be registered,were much interested in getting through the process than observing the Covid-19 health protocols.
While some were in their masks, others we without the mask and at very closed range.
Speaking to some Reporters from A1 Radio who visited the centers, the residents justified that one of the reasons that made them breach the social distancing protocol was because, officials from the National Identification Authority failed to be transparent as they prefer registering their friends and families from far away places leaving them on the queue for longer periods.
A resident at the Kalbeo Primary 1 center in Kalbeo community said “I have been here for the past three days yet they will not return to me. In fact, those that they are registering are all strangers coming from different communities to register and we have been sidelined.”
Another resident from that same center added that the reason they were fighting was that, those who came earlier have been ignored while some people who come late and even skip the queues were registered.
“2am I was here, and up to now, I’m still here meanwhile, some people will come with cars and motorbikes, and they will register it for them. Since I came here from the morning, I have not eaten despite being a lactating mother. You can imagine the dangers that are to my health and child”, another resident added.
When A1 Radio’s Reporters also visited another registration center in the Tindonsobligo community , the story was not different as the residents there were also not happy with lack of transparency of NIA officials.
A resident who spoke off record said all that the officers were telling them was go back home because the system was faulty whereas some registrations were ongoing.
Another resident indicated that “I came here as at 1 am this morning and up to now I have been sidelined. And I don’t even know where those people are coming from yet the officers are busy registering for them.”
Meanwhile, the reporters who visited these centers made efforts to speak to the supervisors at the centers but they declined to speak to the issue.
Source:A1radioonline.com|101.1MHZ|Ghana
