Coronavirus: NIA suspends Ghana registration in Eastern region over suit
- The NIA has suspended its mass registration exercise in the Eastern region
- The suspension comes after an interlocutory injunction was placed on the exercise by a High Court
- The is in effect until a suit brought against the NIA by two individuals is determined
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The National Identification Authority (NIA) has suspended its Ghana card registration exercise in the Eastern region until further notice.
The suspension follows an interlocutory injunction filed by two Ghanaians, Kevor Mark-Oliver and Emmanuel Akumatey Okrah to stop the NIA from continuing.
In a memo issued on Friday, March 20, 2020, the Authority directed its field staff to suspend all their activities from Saturday, March 21, 2020, until the court case was determined.
The staff were also directed to report to work and render accounts of all the equipment and other items in their possession to their senior registration officers (SROs) with immediate effect.
The NIA has been on the receiving end of serious backlash in the media after it emerged that it was going ahead with mas registration in Eastern region despite a ban public gatherings by President Nana Akufo-Addo.
As already, reported by YEN.com.gh, Akufo-Addo, on Sunday, March 15, 2020, announced a ban public gatherings requiring more than 25 people in one place.
The ban has affected religious activities, funerals, and even got schools closed down indefinitely.
Just a day after the order, NIA was found to be registering people for the Ghana card in the Eastern region leading the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) to call for a stop the exercise.
The NIA responded to critics saying the registration activities were just like businesses and that it was enforcing strict social distancing policies just like Akufo-Addo recommended.
However, the two applicants, on Thursday, March 19, 2020, filed a motion at the High Court to place an injunction on the mass registration because it went contrary to the ban on public gatherings by President Nana Akufo-Addo.
It is before the determination of the matter that Kevor and Okrah sought an injunction to restrain the NIA.
Meanwhile, three new cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Ghana, sending the total number of confirmed cases to 19 so far.
All the three cases have been imported into Ghana with two recorded in Accra and one in the Ashanti region.
The three cases include a Chineses and two Ghanaians who returned from the UK.
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Source: YEN.com.gh
