<<Print>>

Charles Owusu has called on Minister of Communications, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, to stop threatening Ghanaians with deadlines regarding the SIM card registration.

The SIM card registration exercise began on 31st October, 2021 and was expected to end on 31st March, 2022 but as at 17th March, over 14 million SIM cards had been linked to the Ghana Card with over 10 million Bio-Captures conducted and 99,445 new SIMs registered.

Due to a number of factors including the fact that over 7.5 million citizens and residents were yet to obtain Ghana Cards to enable them register their SIM cards, it was clear the deadline for completion of the registration of the remaining active SIM cards couldn't be met.

As a result, the Minister extended the deadline to July, 31, 2022 which falls on this Sunday.

However, there are still many people who haven't completed their registration for the Ghana Card to start the process of registration for the SIM card and with those who have acquired their Ghana Cards, many are facing difficulties in registering their SIM cards.

In view of these challenges, the former Head of Monitoring Unit at the Forestry Commission, Charles Owusu argues that there should be no deadline for registering the SIM cards.

"Why are we creating problems for ourselves?", he questioned and stressed, "when you look at our system and how we are doing the registration, we should ensure that anytime that you want to register, feel free and get there and register . . . They should open up so that it will become flexible".

To him, the issuing of deadlines for the SIM registration heaps unnecessary pressure on people.

He urged the Minister to give Ghanaians the opportunity to register without the threat of a deadline asking, "when you deactivate the SIM cards, then what again?"

"Deactivating the SIM cards today doesn't mean one cannot buy SIM card tomorrow. When one buys a new SIM card, won't he or she have to register with his or her Ghana Card? So, deactivating the cards isn't what will solve the problem" but instead "let's give some window for every person to register. I mean it should be flexible for everyone...Let us opportunity for people to register," he added.