Adom News investigations have revealed that more than 47 vehicles supposedly damaged and belonging to the National Identification Authority (NIA), have been abandoned at the authority’s car park at the mercy of the harsh weather for over five months.
The abandoned vehicles include Nissan Pickup trucks and a variety of Tata buses. Most of the vehicles have 2014 registration number plates with very little damage like a flat tire, while others sported damaged bumpers, broken windscreens and faulty car batteries which could be fixed easily.
Sources at the company say anytime the authority’s cars are involved any minor accident, it prefers to park them and replace them with new ones.
A visit by Adom News reporter Abednego Asante Asiedu to the NIA’s office Thursday morning discovered that machinery which looked like data collection equipment have also been abandoned in a warehouse nearby.
Public Affairs Director of the Authority (NIA), Bertha Dzeble declined to comment saying that she lacks the capacity to do so.
“I cannot comment about the issues on these cars. Come later and speak to my boss,” Bertha Dzeble said.
She hinted that only the administrator of the NIA could explain why the vehicles had been parked.
The National Identification Authority was set up in 2003 under the Office of the President with the mandate to issue national ID cards and create and manage a National Identification System (NIS) through a national data center. The Authority was also mandated to process, store, retrieve and disseminate citizens’ data on the population and non-Ghanaian residents in Ghana.
Recently, the authority became the subject of media bashing over a decision to secure a US$115 million loan from the Chinese Exim Bank to issue new GHANACARDS.
The authority claimed the fund would help it set up an ‘integrated system upgrade’ to change its obsolete equipment to a more efficient system.
Bertha Dzeble would also not comment on the controversy surrounding the loan for the new cards.
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