By Rachel Kakraba
Thousands more Ghanaians risk losing their SIM Cards effective Friday, September 30, 2022, if the National Communications Authority (NCA), goes ahead with the directive to Telcos to deactivate SIM Cards that have not been re-registered with Ghana cards by their owners.
This move has been described by some Ghanaians as ”worrying”, as they have not been able to register. They are therefore appealing to the Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation to consider another extension of the exercise to enable them to go through it successfully.
They attributed their inability to re-register their sims to delays in acquiring the Ghana Card, which is the sole identity for SIM Card re-registration.
The SIM Card re-registration officially comes to an end today, after the exercise commenced a year ago.
The exercise, which was originally scheduled to end on March 31, 2022, was extended to July 31, 2022, and extended for an extra month to enable all Ghanaians to register.
Speaking in an interview with GBC Ghana Online in Accra, a cross-section of the public said they have still not been able to register.
Majority of them attributed their inability to register their SIMs to Ghana Card related challenges and asked the Ministry of Digitalisation and Communication to rescind its decision to block their lines. They gave different reasons as to why they have not been able to register.
Daniel, a trader, said, “I have registered with the Ghana Card, so with the biometric capture they should give us some time.”
Grace, a student, also said, “I have a name issue. They said the name on the card is different, so I wanted them to change it for me. They said I should bring an affidavit. When I brought the affidavit, they said I should bring the old ID card I used to register the sim card. It is missing. That is why I haven’t been able to register. I will buy a new SIM card. That’s the only way out.
David, a driver, also said, “What will make you go and register your sim is the Ghana card, but I don’t have one. It’s frustrating because we don’t have the Ghana card. How do we get the Ghana card? That should be their focus right now.
Since a lot of people are yet to receive their Ghana cards, there are calls for the scrapping of deadlines to enable all Ghanaians to go through the exercise.
