The Minister for Communications and Digitalisation, Mrs. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful has “very reluctantly decided to grant a final conditional extension”, of the SIM card registration exercise to 30th September, 2022.
Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and the National Communications Authority (NCA), she pointed out, have all engaged additional staff, procured the necessary logistics and are incurring significant expenses to conduct this exercise successfully.
According to Mrs. Owusu-Ekuful, the extension of the process will increase the cost of these institutions and therefore her reluctance in extending the exercise.
However, upon consultation with the industry and in view of some challenges identified, the SIM registration is being extended to give one full year of the exercise, following a review.
“It will be reviewed at the end of this month and any SIM that has not been fully registered by the end of August will be barred from receiving certain services including voice and data services.
“It will also be more expensive to use unregistered SIMs. The full range of punitive measures will be announced at another press briefing in September. Kindly do not blame your service provider when you suffer that fate due to your own inaction. To be forewarned is to be forearmed”, the Minister warned at a media briefing organised by the Ministry of Information yesterday.
NIA not under MoCD
Mrs. Owusu-Ekuful who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ablekuma West constituency reminded Ghanaians that the National Identification Authority (NIA) is not under the Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation (MoCD).
“I must end by reminding us all that the MoCD is not the supervisory ministry for the National Identification Authority, even though we collaborate with them.
“My hapless self has been roundly vilified in certain quarters particularly this past week for Ghana card challenges which I am not responsible for. Prof. Ken Attafuah and his sector Minister, Hon. Ambrose Dery, Minister for the Interior, are available to answer any Ghana card related issue please. I am staying firmly in my lane.
“Actions also have consequences and in all that we do, we must put the interests of our country first.
“In 2018, the NDC vociferously opposed the Ghana card and called on all their supporters to boycott the registration process. Those who heeded that antisocial call and refused to register are now feeling the effects of it. You listen to the NDC on any issue at your own peril”, Mrs. Owusu-Ekuful concluded.
SIM card re-registration
Government in a bid to develop and build a SIM database with integrity, which will assist in curbing fraudulent activities, secure SIM Card based transactions and aid the determination of the accurate number of valid SIM cards on the various telecommunication networks at any point in time, commenced the SIM Card registration exercise on 1st October 2021.
The 6-month exercise which was expected to end on 31st March, 2022, was extended by another 4 months to 31st July, 2022.
The extension was granted to enable over 7.5 million Ghanaians and residents who had not obtained Ghana Cards at the time to register their SIM.
It was also to give government the opportunity to provide modalities for the registration of diplomats and complete processes for rolling out a Self-Service SIM Registration App to facilitate the registration of SIM cards for both residents and Ghanaians living outside the country.
Current SIM registration statistics
As at 20th July, 2022 the total number of Voice SIMs stood at 41, 979,398.
Out of this number, 15,395,607 have linked their Ghana Card to their sim cards.
Delays in issuance of Ghana Card
The NIA has not been able to issue all eligible persons with the Ghana Card.
As at Thursday July 21, 2022, 16,969,034 individuals have registered for the Ghana Card, with about 16,535,623 cards printed.
A total of 15,702,719 cards have been issued whereas some 832,904 cards have not been distributed or collected.
Next steps
Mrs. Owusu-Ekuful indicated that the SIM Registration App will be available for download on both android and IOS this week barring any unforeseen circumstances.
According to her, each registration via the app will be subject to a 5-cedi surcharge.
“Non-resident Ghanaians who do not have the Ghana card can use their passports to complete the process but will be required to update their details with the Ghana card once they acquire it.
“They have up till December 2022 to do so. I urge them to comply with these directives and to contact the NCA if they have any peculiar challenges.
“Ghanaians on official assignment outside the country or students on scholarships who cannot acquire the Ghana card by December should contact the NCA”, she indicated.
Special provision
Special provision, according to Mrs. Owusu-Ekuful has already been made for members of the diplomatic corps in consultation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and regional Integration and they have been notified.
“It has come to my knowledge that Amputees and others who have some physical challenges are also a category of persons that are having problems registering their SIMs. We will have discussions with the NIA to resolve them.
All visitors to Ghana can now acquire SIMS with their passports and I encourage the Airport Authority to work with MNOs to provide adequate venues for the acquisition of SIMS at the airport.
“As indicated earlier, these will be valid for 3 months and if they want to use them for a longer period, they must acquire the non-citizen ID card to validate their SIMs. MNOS must provision their systems to send notifications to this category of SIMs”.
