NIA dismisses 10 registration officials: Ghanatoday.net

Accra, Jan.15, GNA — The
National Identification Authority (NIA) has dismissed 10 registration officials
with immediate effect for misconduct after it concluded administrative
investigations into their actions.

Seven of them were
initially interdicted on January 9, this year, following reports of
administrative breaches of the rules and regulations governing the conduct of
the ongoing mass registration exercise for the Ghana Card in the Ashanti
Region.

Mr Francis Palmdeti,
the Head of Corporate Affairs of NIA, announced this in a statement copied to
the Ghana News Agency, in Accra, on Wednesday.

The statement said the
dismissed officials acted without lawful authority by carrying registration
materials away from designated registration centres to private premises for the
purposes of registering officials of a certain bank.

Those dismissed
included Martin Awatey, a Commissioner for Oaths, New Suame Church of Pentecost
Centre in Kumasi, Musah Alhassan, a Registration Officer, New Suame Church of
Pentecost Centre in Kumasi and Philip Osei, a Mobile Registration Workstation
Operator, New Suame Church of Pentecost Centre in Kumasi.

The rest are Alphonse
Acquah-Djan, a Commissioner for Oaths, Church of Christ Registration Centre,
Nyinampong, Asante-Mampong and Alexander Larbi, a Commissioner for Oaths,
Amanchia D/A registration Centre in Atwima Nwabiagya South District and Lydia
Amanda K. Mega, a Commissioner for Oaths, Mpasatia Atenasu registration centre
in Atwima Mponua District

The NIA said,
Acquah-Djan and Larbi, for instance, contracted some members of the communities
within which they were deployed to sell Oath of Identity forms, signed or
thumb-printed by applicants who had already gone through the registration
process.

Amanda K. Mega, for
instance,stamped blank Oath of Identity Forms, which had not been duly
completed by persons vouching for applicants, contrary to the rules and ethics
of her profession as a Commissioner for Oaths.

The forms also found
their way into the hands of prospective applicants for a fee.

Prior to their
dismissal, the NIA had interdicted the above named persons.

However, Margaret
Agyei, a Supervising Registration Officer of New Suame Church of Pentecost
Centre in Kumasi, who was among those initially interdict Ed, has been
reinstated after the NIA’s internal investigations proved that she did no
wrong.

“She is accordingly
reinstated with all her entitlements fully restored”, the statement
said.  

The Ghana Card
registration, the NIA announced, would continue till Saturday, January 18
whilst all registration centres in the Ashanti Region remained opened for card
collection till Wednesday, January 22.

“This is to help
ameliorate the challenges encountered in some registration centres when the
mass registration began in the Region”.

GNA