Your allegations are all spurious and unfounded – NIA replies Omane Boamah

The National Identification Authority (NIA) has dismissed as baseless claims made by the opposition National Democratic Congress’s (NDC) director of elections that the government has criminalized state organizations like the NIA.

On Tuesday, Omane Boamah asserted that the NIA, led by Prof. Ken Attafuah, had peculiarly selected the current voter registration period to launch a unique pilot initiative that would provide Ghana Cards to Ghanaians residing in Pusiga on the borders of Ghana and Burkina Faso.

Additionally, he claims that the Pusiga District’s continuing voter registration exercise is a politically driven initiative “masked as a collaboration with IOM,” with the sole goal being to aid illegal voters to embark on the last lap of the voter registration exercise.”

The NIA responded to the claims in a statement on Wednesday, May 22, saying they are baseless and fabricated.

“The attention of the National Identification Authority (NIA) has been drawn to a Facebook post of Tuesday; 21st May 2024 attributed to Hon. Dr. Omane Boamah of the National Democratic Congress (NDC),” he said.

“The NPP has criminalized state institutions (including the NIA); The NIA headed by Dr. Bawumia’s bosom 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….”

“The intervention by Dr. Omane Boamah in his said Facebook post is most needless and unfortunate; it is a case of much ado about nothing, highlighting the evils of deliberate miscommunication and deception of the public….The public should not be dissuaded by Dr. Boamah’s deliberate falsehoods against the NIA. His allegations are all spurious and unfounded, and the public is urged to disregard them,” the NIA statement said.

The NIA asked the public to disregard Omane Boamah’s assertions since they are baseless and fabricated.

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) and no other organization, no matter how defined, have criminalized the Authority, the NIA stated in response to the accusations.

The NIA claims that its Senior Management and Governing Board are made up of men and women of pure patriotism and impeccable honesty who will not tolerate any organization criminalizing the NIA’s operations or give in to undue pressure while doing their jobs.

The NIA further explained that 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 this opportunity to is Ghana Cards which have been printed but are yet to be collected by already registered applicants.”

“The Pusiga District registration exercise is a pilot exercise which may be extended to other communities along the Ghana-Burkina Faso border if after it is deemed necessary to do so”.

“Issuance of Cards to Minors: It is true that in EC limited voter registration exercise, the NIA is “issuing cards to minors” and “misrepresenting their ages”. This is a most shocking and unfair allegation, and we urge the Hon. Omane Boamah to report to the Ghana Police Service the conduct of any NIA registration official he knows to have engaged in such criminal acts”.

Read the full statement below:

Source: Ghanatodayonline.com