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The Minority in Parliament has disclosed that the next National Democratic Congress government will embark on another SIM re-registration exercise.
This comes in response to the current government’s SIM card re-registration initiative, which commenced on October 1, 2021, with the aim of combating fraud and monitoring individuals engaged in criminal activities through their phones.
Under the current initiative, Ghanaians were instructed to re-register their SIM cards using their Ghana Cards. Those who failed to comply with the directive had their SIM cards deactivated after the final deadline of May 31, 2023.
During a media briefing in Parliament, Samuel Nartey George, the Deputy Ranking Member on the Communications Committee of Parliament, expressed concerns about the current re-registration process and highlighted the intention of the NDC government to conduct a comprehensive SIM re-registration exercise in the future.
“It is not true that they are using this to fight crime, because the Ghana Card fundamentally is flawed. That is why we have served notice that the next NDC government will do a proper re-registration of SIM Cards which will not involve you having to go and queue in telecom offices, but we will do a proper re-registration of SIM Cards.”
Meanwhile, the Minister of Communications and Digitalisation, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, has announced that Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) are working with the Bank of Ghana to facilitate the retrieval of funds for individuals whose monies are locked up in mobile money accounts.
Numerous subscribers have voiced their concerns regarding the inability to access their funds on mobile money accounts after their SIM cards were deactivated for failing to re-register them.
Providing an update on the status of the SIM re-registration exercise in Parliament on Thursday, June 8, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful assured affected subscribers that, while they won’t be able to conduct mobile-related transactions with their deactivated SIMs, their funds will be recovered through the necessary processes.
“We continue to encourage the National Identification Authority (NIA) to assist people to acquire their Ghana Card. We have also been made aware of the difficulties facing subscribers in accessing their funds on their mobile money wallets”.
