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The National Identification Authority (NIA) has responded to the Director of Elections and Information Technology (IT) for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Dr. Omane Boamah over the ongoing Ghana Card registration in Pusiga district of the Upper east region.

According to the NIA, the exercise being conducted in the Pusiga district is legitimate and necessary adding that it as “lawful, proper, and wholly wholesome.”

The response from the NIA is in sequel to the allegation made on his Facebook page by Dr. Edward Omane Boamah, who was a former Information Minister during the government led by John Mahama, that the ongoing registration being conducted by the NIA was politically motivated and disguised as a collaboration with the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

According to Dr. Omane Boamah, the NIA’s true intention was to facilitate illegal voting in the final phase of the voter registration process being conducted by the Electoral Commission.

The NIA in its letter, outlined a number of allegations made by the NDC through Omane Boamah.

In a facebook post, Dr. Omane Boamah made statements which suggest that the governing New Patriotic party (NPP) has criminalised state institutions with the NIA inclusive.

The post, according to NIA also suggests that, the NIA which is headed by Dr. Bawumia’s close friend Ken Attafuah has strangely chosen this voter registration period to embark on a special pilot program to issue Ghana Cards to Ghanaians living along the borders of Ghana and Burkina Faso in Pusiga as well as giving the people driven away from the Pusiga registration centre, Ghana cards in order for them to register within these final 7 days and then exercise their franchise come December 7.

According to Dr. Omane Boamah and the NDCD, the registration exercise in the Pusiga District is a politically motivated enterprise “masked as a collaboration with IOM”, and its purpose is “simply to aid illegal voters to embark on the last lap of the voter registration exercise”.

In a response to the allegations made by Dr. Omane Boamah, the NIA stated, “The NIA flatly denies each and every one of the allegations specified above, as well as the insinuation that the NIA’s decisions and actions spring from a malevolent seedbed.

Specifically, the NIA wishes to assure the public that, contrary to Dr. Omane Boamah’s wild assertions, the NIA has acted in utmost good faith, in the national interest and in accordance with the law.

Accordingly, NIA reacts as follows to the above allegations:

“1. Criminalization of NIA: The NIA has NOT been criminalized by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) or any other entity whatsoever and howsoever described. The Governing Board and Senior Management of the NIA comprise men and women of sterling integrity and unalloyed patriotism who will not countenance the criminalization of NIA’s operations by any entity or yield to any improper considerations in the discharge of their duties; 2. Malicious Timing of Pusiga Registration: The idea for the registration of Ghanaians in the Pusiga District was first mooted by the International Organization for Migration (IMO) on 30th August 2023 following a Stakeholder Consultation on border security along the Ghana-Burkina Faso border conducted by the Ministry of the Interior at the Fiesta Royal Hotel in Accra. A long series of negotiations and preparations eventually culminated in the commencement of the registration exercise on Monday, 20th May 2024, with the IOM bearing the entire cost of the operations, namely: surveying and selecting registration centres; deploying personnel and equipment; organizing and conducting the registration exercise; remunerating the staff; supervising and monitoring the registration exercise; and retrieving equipment and personnel after the exercise. The collaboration is supported by a Purchase Order for General Services duly executed by the lawful representatives of the two parties, NIA and IOM, on 3rd May 2024.

“3. Registration of Unqualified Applicants: The NIA has never sought to equip or empower any unqualified persons with the Ghana Card to enable them “to register within these final 7 days and vote on December 07”. The NIA is unaware of any persons having been driven away by NDC officials from any Electoral Commission (EC) registration Centre in Pusiga. The arrest of an EC officer for allegedly using a single Ghana Card to register multiple individuals has got nothing to do with NIA; the conduct of that EC officer is unrelated to NIA in any shape or form. The NIA does not condone any illegal activity and is not involved in the activities of the EC or its officers.

 4. Collaboration with IOM is a Mask for Partisan Political Enterprise: The registration exercise is an honest operation in response to a formal request by the respected and credible IOM; it reflects the responsiveness of NIA to well-considered proposals from stakeholders for expanding registration options for Ghanaians. The collaboration between NIA and IOM is not a mask for anything but an unqualified human good being offered by two noble institutions in the service of Mother Ghana. NIA unequivocally denies that the purpose of the collaboration is to aid illegality and firmly asserts that NIA has not aided, is not aiding, and will not aid any “illegal voters to embark on the last lap of the voter registration exercise”. For the avoidance of doubt, NIA further states categorically that the Ghana Card registration exercise in the Pusiga District is lawful, proper, necessary and wholly wholesome; it is focused on ensuring that vulnerable Ghanaian populations, particularly those living in communities straddling the Ghana-Burkina Faso border, are able to register for the Ghana Card if they have not already done so, in order to ensure their accurate identification, facilitate their easy crossing of the border, enable them access various public services and ensure their security within the border area. As the IOM stated in its letter to NIA dated 27th March 2024: “

"Without the Ghana card or any other means of confirming the identity of border residents seeking to cross, conflict arises with Border Management Agencies (BMAs), leading to the usage of irregular crossing points by the border residents. To help address this challenge IOM is requesting the NIA to support registering and issuing Ghana cards to the border residents in Pusiga and its environs to facilitate cross-border movements by the residents . . . NIA can leverage on this opportunity to issue Ghana Cards which have been printed but are yet to be collected by already registered applicants.”

The letter from the NIA signed by the Cooperate Affairs Directorate on May 22 condluded by stating that, “The intervention by Hon. Dr. Omane Boamah in his said Facebook post is most unfortunate as it seeks to highlight the evils of deliberate miscommunication and deception of the public. Beyond the truth of (a) friendship between Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and Prof. Ken Attafuah and (b) collaboration between NIA and IOM to register Ghanaians in Pusiga and environs, there is no evidentiary basis to any of the wild claims and conjectures made by Dr. Omane Boamah."