The re-registration of SIM cards initially started on October 1 of 2021 and finished on March 31, 2022. However, because the majority of Ghanaians hadn’t yet received their Ghana cards, the Ministry extended it until July 31, 2022. The only national identity card that can be used for SIM registration is the Ghana card.
About 7.9 million Ghanaians were anticipated to lose their SIM cards by the deadline, according to a JoyNews study. There are 19.9 million Ghanaians aged 15 and above according to information from the 2021 Population and Housing Census. Data provided by the Finance Minister during the presentation of the 2022 mid-year budget review also indicated that just 15.7 million of these individuals had been able to receive their Ghana Cards. Only 12 million of the 19.9 million have reportedly been able to fully register their SIM cards, according to the Minister of Communications and Digitization.
The public, therefore, appealed to the Communications Ministry and the government to extend the deadline for the SIM card re-registration exercise. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, the Minister of Communications and digitalization, announced during a press conference on Sunday, July 31, 2022, that the SIM card re-registration exercise will be extended to September 30, 2022. She stated that this comes after discussions with industry players and considering that the masses have found difficulty in re-registering their SIM cards.
The Minister further explained that the programme will be extended until September 30, 2022, to close on the anniversary of when it first started, giving a full year of SIM card registration. She added that any SIM that has not been fully registered by the end of August will not be allowed to receive certain services, including phone and data services. The Communications Minister also said that a self-sim registration app will be released in the coming week to enable people to register in the comfort of their own homes.
Many Ghanaians had earlier expressed concerns about having to visit the telecommunication service offices to fully register their SIM cards after initiating the process on their mobile phones using the *404# short code. There were usually long queues at the offices and the process was cumbersome and time-wasting.
Why is the self-sim registration app being introduced this late after nearly a whole year of SIM re-registration? The government should have been proactive enough to foresee all the challenges that have been associated with SIM card registrations. This would have saved Ghanaians a lot of time and stress in an attempt to have their SIM cards registered.
Another issue that remains is the acquisition of the Ghana card. Will the remaining 4.2 million Ghanaians who currently do not have their Ghana cards be able to obtain them by September 30, 2022? The Ghana card comes at a cost of GHS 250 cedis for Ghanaian citizens and $120 for the issuance of a non-Citizen Ghana card to foreign visitors with a residency permit or who have spent cumulatively 90 days in Ghana.
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