Self sim card registration App coming – Ursula Owusu

• Posted on November 3, 2021November 3, 2021
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

Minister for Communications and Digitalisation, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful has given clearer indication about Government intention to introduce a mobile application that will aid self-registration in the ongoing national SIM card registration exercise.

She expressed worried that out of about 40 million sim card in the system, only a little over two million of the population as of the end of last week have been able to register successfully.

A situation, the Minister describes as very low compared to the number of SIM cards yet to be registered, hence the need for the ‘app’ to facilitate the exercise.

“I must say in the coming weeks, we’re working on launching an application for self-registration. A mobile application that will let individuals register at their own convenience without any delay. This is because looking at the figures it is just about two million SIM cards that had been registered so far and we have about 40 million cards nationwide to register”, she indicated.

The mandatory sim card re-registration process started a month ago and all mobile phone users are expected to register their sim cards again with only the Ghana Card at the various offices of their network service providers.

The process is expected to end in March 2022 and all unregistered sim cards will be deactivated.

Already, the Communications Ministry has hinted about plans to include National Passport and other forms of identification in the ongoing SIM card re-registration process.

She said although the law within which the exercise is being undertaken specifies the Ghana Card as the sole mode of identification verification thereby puts her outfit in a precarious situation, as far as the ongoing exercise is concerned.

Speaking to an Accra based media outlet, on the sidelines of the Cybersecurity Industry Forum on the Cybersecurity Act, a programme put together by the Cybercesurity Authority for professionals and service providers in the sector, Mrs Owusu-Ekuful stated that “There was also another call for the use of passport as part of the identification document and it’s something that we as a ministry and stakeholders are also looking into but let’s see what happens.

“However, you should get your Ghana Card if you don’t have it as a citizen.”

She also said Ghanaians abroad who may want to re-register their SIM cards before the deadline can do so, adding, they are looking into the law to facilitate that.

“It is going well I must say. So far so good, but then there are few challenges which the ministry is still working around to resolve. Some of the challenges being that there are some Ghanaians abroad who have SIM cards that may want to register but due to the timing; I must say it is something the team is looking at utilizing the SIM Registration Act to see what can be done”, he explained.

By Vincent Kubi