The National Identification Authority (NIA) has stated that applicants without face mask won’t be given their Ghana Card.

In order to heed to the President’s directive on COVID-19 prevention, it said that the NIA would ensure that applicants are well spaced out in accordance with social distancing protocols, adding that “applicants will be required to use hand sanitizer before joining the queue and leaving the collection centres.”

In a flyer released by the NIA, it indicated that applicants are encouraged to come with their registration forms for the collection of their Ghana Card.

On how individuals can collect their card, it mentioned that they are required to identify themselves to the card issuance official at the card collection centre where they were initially registered.

It further said that “NIA officials will take details of persons whose cards are not available as it may be still going through the adjudication process. Applicants will be kept informed on when they can collect their card via text message or phone call.”

With regard to preventing wrong issuance of the card, it noted that applicants without their registration forms would be required to mention their full names and date of birth to identify themselves.

“After an applicant is identified, he or she will be required to sign or thumbprint the dummy identification card in the card collection centres,” it stressed.

The collection of the Ghana Card starts today, June 10, 2020, and will last for two weeks.

There will also be a nationwide mop-up registration exercise commencing on June 18, 2020, which will run through to mid-September 2020.

The NIA last week announced that it will from Monday, June 8, 2020, distribute over three million printed Ghana cards to applicants across the 16 regions of the country.

According to the NIA, the cards are being made available in time to enable Ghanaians to use them in the upcoming voter registration exercise.

The NIA said that the decision to postpone the mass distribution exercise from Monday, June 8 to Wednesday, June 10 is to provide enough Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to its workers at all registration centres.

The NIA will be issuing 3,875,441 printed cards to Ghana Card applicants at 5,635 registration centres.

It expects 11,062,850 Ghanaians to have the Ghana Card in time for the Electoral Commission’s (EC) compilation of a new voter register as the EC plans to make the Ghana Card and passport the only valid identification for registering to vote.