No extension for SIM card registration – Ursula

There would be no additional extended date for the ongoing SIM cards registration with the use of Ghana card as the mandatory requirement, and that each and every one should make it a priority to get theirs done by the ending of July, 2022, the Minister for Communications and Digitalization, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful has stated.

The exercise which began on 1st October 2021, was originally scheduled to end on 31st March 2022 but was extended by the sector Ministry to 31st July 2022, due to the fact that over 7.5 million citizens and residents at the time, were yet to obtain their Ghana Card, to enable them register their SIM cards.

According to the Minister, a large number of the Ghanaian populace has so far linked their Ghana cards to their SIM cards.

Speaking at a forum by the National Communications Authority (NCA) in Kumasi, she stated that the exercise will ultimately help build a credible and safe SIM card database in Ghana.

“Most people access their internet through their mobile devices. We must make sure that they do so safely. We must make it difficult for the criminals who hack our systems and defraud us through multiple online channels to operate, and this SIM registration exercise is one of the steps the government is taking in that regard. Essentially, this stresses the point that this exercise will enable the establishment of a subscriber database with integrity to keep the consumers safe from scams and fraud.”

“I, therefore, take this opportunity to urge all those who’ve not registered their SIM cards to do so as the deadline of 31st July 2022 will not be extended,” she added.

15.7 million Ghana cards issued so far

Meanwhile the Executive Secretary of the National Identification Authority (NIA), Prof. Kenneth Agyemang Attafuah, has said that over 15.7 million Ghanaians currently have received their Ghana cards.

Prof. Attafuah said data available to him reveals that 16,969,034 persons have registered for the Ghana Card, with about 16,535,623 cards printed out so far.

Prof. Attafuah further said that about 15,702,719 cards have been issued whereas some 808,493 cards have been printed but not issued.

He gave multiple reasons why some people who have registered have not been issued with their cards.

“There are people who have double-registered. That is potentially a criminal offence. Those ones are being individually investigated. There are those whose cards have gone into adjudication, not because of double registration but because they have sought to change their vital data in the custody of the authority, such as bio-data. For such people, the system arrests their application, and it joins a queue.”

“For such people, until the outstanding issues are rectified, they can’t receive their cards,” he added.