The minister of Communications and Digitalization, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, has announced the extension of the Sim card registration process in Ghana. The process which was to end on 31st July 2022, has now been extended till 30th September 2022.
The exercise which began on 1st October 2021, was originally scheduled to end on 31st March 2022 but was extended to 31st July 2022 because over 7.5 million citizens and residents at the time were yet to obtain their Ghana Card to enable them to register their SIM cards.
The deadline extension is a result of the pleas made by the Mobile Money Agents Association of Ghana, the Minority in Parliament and citizens following the initial announcement of the deadline by Ghana’s ministry of communications and Digitalisation to deactivate unregistered Sim cards on Sunday, 31st July 2022.
Deputy Ranking Member on the Communications Committee of Parliament, Sam Nartey George, said there are several factors that have militated against many in their quest to register their SIM cards.
He pleaded with the government to intervene: “We hope that within the next 24 to 48 hours, reason will apply. We want to use this means to call on the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to instruct his Minister for Communications to rescind his decision on the deadline as it poses potential national security implications for millions of Ghanaians who have not been able to register due to no fault of theirs.”
Sam George also said, “We urge the President and the National Security Minister not to treat this issue with kid gloves and take cognizance of the threat of terror and ensure that the millions of Ghanaians who use their SIMs daily are not disenfranchised.”
The Sim card deactivation was tagged unreasonable.
- Ghanaians need their national Identity card to register Sim cards and only citizens above 15, qualify to get the identity card. This means that citizens below 15 have no way of registering their SIM cards and will get their Sim cards deactivated as a result.
- According to data contained in the 2021 Population and Housing Census, there are 19.9 million Ghanaians who are 15 years and older. Of the 19.9 million, just 12 million, according to the Minister of Communications and Digitisation, have been able to register their SIM cards fully. This means that 7.9 million Ghanaians aged 15 and above have not been able to register their SIM cards.
- Going by the information provided by the Finance Minister during the presentation of Ghana’s 2022 mid-year budget review, only 15.7 million of the country’s population have obtained their Ghana Card. This means that 4.2 million Ghanaians aged 15 years and above do not have their Ghana Cards. Hence, they cannot register their SIM cards.
The Communication Minister’s press statement
Speaking at a press briefing on Sunday 31st July 2022, the Communications and Digitalisation Minister, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, said the decision to extend the deadline is a result of consultations with the telecommunications industry stakeholders.
“Upon consultation with the industry and considering the challenges enumerated above, I have reluctantly decided to grant a conditional extension. The programme will be extended to 30th September to end on the anniversary of its commencement.
That will give us one full year of SIM registration. It will be reviewed at the end of this month and any SIM that has not been fully registered by the end of August will be barred from receiving certain services including voice and data services,” she said.
The Minister noted that despite the challenges with the Ghana Card – long queues, among others – many Ghanaians failed to register their SIMs after the deadline was extended.
“The statistics indicate that there was a 90% drop in SIM reregistration as soon as the first deadline was extended on 21st March. Until a week ago there were no queues, people started going to register when they realised that the deadline was imminent after going to sleep.
The mobile network operators, NCA, and the NIA have all engaged additional staff, procured the necessary logistics, and incurring significant expenses to conduct this exercise successfully. Any extension of the process increases their cost,” she added.
The minister also announced that a self-registration app would be launched next week to help Ghanaians register their SIM cards from the comfort of their homes.
The Sim card registration app
Ghana SIM Registration app is for registering new SIM cards in Ghana and performing re-registration of existing SIM cards to ensure an accurate registry of information of all SIM card users in Ghana.
Agents of all the telecommunication operators will use the application in Ghana to register new SIM and re-register existing SIM cards.
The information minister said the self-registration app will be available for download on Android and IOS phones and will be subject to a 5-cedi surcharge. This has sparked several reactions from Ghanaians as some took to their social media platforms to complain about the 5 cedi charge.
SIM registration shortcode
● Dial *404#
● Enter Ghana Card PIN (Enter letters and figures without the hyphens)
● Confirm Ghana card PIN.
● Enter Surname and First Name(s)
● Enter Date of Birth (DDMMYY)
● Select Sex.
● Confirm details.
● Submit details provided after confirmation.
Ghanaians who have yet to register their SIM cards have been urged to do so as this deadline extension will be the final.
